LIBRARY 

UNIVERSHY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
SANTA   CHUZ 


SMITHSONIAN    INSTITUTION. 

UNITED     STATES     NATIONAL     MUSEUM 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS 


A    STUDY   IN    ETHNIC   DISTRIBUTION   AND 
INVENTION. 


BY 


OTIS    TUFTON   MASON, 
"/ 

Curator,  Division  of  Ethnology. 


From  the  Report  of  the  United  States  National  Museum  for  1900,  pages  189-304, 
with  twenty  plates. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING   OFFICE, 
1902. 


M3 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900. — Mason. 


FRONTISPIECE. 


ABORIGINAL  AMERICAN  HARPOONS: 
A  STUDY  IN  ETHNIC  DISTRIBUTION  AND  INVENTION, 

BY 

OTIS    TUFTON    MASON, 

Curator,  Division  of  Ethnology. 


NAT   MUS    1900 13  lgg 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Page. 

I.  List  of  illustrations 193 

II.  List  of  authorities .• 196 

III.  Introduction 197 

IV.  South  American  harpoons:  Fuegian,  west  coast,  Brazilian,  and  Carib 212 

V.  North  American   harpoons:    Mexican,  Central   American,  Californian, 

Columbia  River,  southeastern  Alaskan,  Muskhogean,  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, Atlantic  coast,  Canadian,  and  Athapascan 219 

VI.  Arctic  harpoons:  East  Greenland,  west  Greenland,  Labrador  and  Hud- 
son Bay,  Baffin  Land,  Mackenzie  River,  Arctic  Alaska,  and  Kadiak  . .  236 
VII.  Conclusion 303 

191 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PLATES. 

Facing  page. 

Frontispiece.     The  master  of  the  harpoon 189 

1.  Accessories  to  the  harpoon 208 

2.  Fuegian  barbed  harpoon  heads 212 

3.  Harpoon  arrow  and  sheath,  Venezuela* 216 

4.  Toggle  harpoon,  east  Greenland 238 

5.  Seal  harpoon  from  west  Greenland 240 

6.  Complete  seal  harpoon,  Cumberland  Sound 260 

7.  Toggle  harpoon  heads,  Amur  River  and  Cumberland  Sound 262 

8.  Barbed  harpoon,  with  hand  rests,  St.  Michael  Island,  Alaska 282 

9.  Barbed  harpoon,  with  hand  rest  and  bladder,  Norton  Sound 284 

10.  Larger  Bering  Sea  harpoon 290 

11.  Barbed  harpoon  for  throwing  stick,  Sledge  Island 292 

12.  Sea-otter  harpoon,  Bristol  Bay,  Alaska 294 

13.  Long-handled  barbed  harpoon,  Bristol  Bay 296 

14  and  15.  Toggle  harpoon,  line,  and  float,  Kusilvak,  Yukon  River 298 

16  and  17.  Barbed  sea-otter  harpoon  arrows,  Alaskan  Peninsula 300 

18.  Barbed  harpoon  dart  for  throwing  stick 302 

19.  Barbed  harpoon  with  float,  Kadiak,  Alaska „ 304 


TEXT  FIGURES. 

Page. 

1.  Type  form  of  toggle  head,  Hudson  Bay 201 

2.  Loose  shafts  of  toggle  harpoons,  Cumberland  Sound 204 

3.  Eyelet  on  harpoon  line,  Cumberland  Sound 206 

4.  Line  swivel,  Cumberland  Sound 206 

5.  Sealskin  float,  Cumberland  Sound 1 207 

6.  Mouthpieces  to  floats,  Cumberland  Sound 207 

7.  Seal  indicators,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 209 

8.  Sealing  stool,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska •    210 

9.  Line  detacher,  St.  Michael,  Alaska 210 

10.  Decoy  for  seal,  Sledge  Island,  Alaska 211 

11.  Ice  scoops,  Amur  River  and  Bristol  Bay 212 

12.  Fuegian  barbed  harpoon 213 

13.  Barbed  harpoon  heads,  Chile  and  Peru 215 

14.  Harpoon  arrow,  Bororo  Indians,  Brazil 217 

15.  Turtle  harpoon,  Seri  Indians 222 

16.  Barbed  harpoon  head,  Seri  Indians 223 

17.  Toggle  harpoon,  Hupa  Indians,  California .- .  223 

18.  Barbed  harpoon  head,  Naltunne  Indians,  Oregon 225 

19.  Salmon  spear,  Quinaielt  Indians,  Washington 226 

20.  Toggle  head  and  line,  Makah  Indians,  Washington 228 

193 


194  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

Page. 

21.  Sealskin  float,  Makah  Indians,  Washington 229 

22.  Toggle  harpoon,  Thompson  Indians,  British  Columbia 233 

23.  Hinged  toggle  head,  east  Greenland 238 

24.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 240 

25.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 241 

26.  Toggle  and  barbed  harpoon  head,  west  Greenland 244 

27.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 245 

28.  Old  toggle  head,  north  Greenland •    246 

29.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 246 

30.  Barbed  harpoon  head,  northern  Greenland 247 

31.  Old  harpoon  head,  north  Greenland 247 

32.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 248 

33.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 248 

34.  Old  toggle  head,  north  Greenland 249 

35.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 250 

36.  Barbed  and  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 251 

37.  Barbed  and  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 251 

38.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 252 

39.  Old  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 252 

40.  Old  toggle  head,  west  Greenland , 252 

41.  Toggle  head,  west  Greenland 253 

42.  Small  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 253 

43.  Old  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 253 

44.  Old  toggle  head,  west  Greenland '. 254 

45.  Small  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 254 

46.  Old  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 254 

47.  Small  toggle  head,  west  Greenland 255 

48.  Shaft  of  smaller  harpoon,  south  Greenland 255 

49.  Foreshaft  and  loose  shaft  of  figure  48 256 

50.  Old  toggle  head,  Upernavik,  Greenland 256 

51.  Model  of  harpoon,  Whale  River,  Canada 257 

52.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  head,  Upernavik,  Greenland 260 

53.  Loose  head  of  lance,  Repulse  Bay 260 

54.  Toggle  head,  Repulse  Bay,  northeast  Canada 261 

55.  Head  of  whale  harpoon,  Hudson  Bay 262 

56.  Head  of  whale  lance,  Cumberland  Sound 263 

57.  Toggle  head,  Cumberland  Sound 264 

58.  Loose  head  of  lance,  Cumberland  Sound 264 

59.  Loose  head  of  lance,  Cumberland  Sound 265 

60.  Loose  head  of  lance,  Cumberland  Sound 265 

61.  Old  toggle  head  with  stone  blade 266 

62.  Barbed  and  toggle  head,  Mackenzie  River 271 

63.  Toggle  head,  Diomede  Island,  Bering  Strait 272 

64.  Model  of  toggle  head,  Kotzebue  Sound 272 

65.  Toggle  head,  Diomede  Island,  Bering  Strait 273 

66.  Toggle,  head  of  whale  harpoon,  Point  B.arro w,  Alaska . .  273 

67.  Toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 273 

68.  Toggle  head,  with  leader,  Point  Barrow 274 

69.  Walrus  toggle  head  harpoons,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 275 

70.  Sealing  harpoon,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 275 

71.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  heads,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 276 

72.  Old  Transition  harpoon  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 276 

73.  Barbed  and  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 277 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  195 

Page. 

74.  Combined  barbed  and  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska. 278 

75.  Barbed  and  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 278 

76.  Combined  barbed  and  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 279 

77.  Old  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 279 

78.  Old-style  toggle  head,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska . .  280 

79.  Retrieving  harpoon,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska 281 

80.  Detail  of  figure  78 281 

81.  Toggle  head  harpoon,  Norton  Sound,  Alaska 285 

82.  Barbed  harpoon,  St.  Michael  Island,  Alaska ". 286 

83.  Toggle  head  and  accessories,  Kuskokwim  River 288 

84.  Toggle  head  and  accessories,  Kuskokwim  River 289 

85.  Toggle  head,  Cape  Nome,  Norton  Sound,  Alaska 290 

86.  Iron  toggle  head,  Sledge  Island,  Norton  Sound,  Alaska 291 

87.  Toggle  head,  Port  Clarence,  Bering  Sea,  Alaska 291 

88.  Toggle  harpoon  head,  Bristol  Bay,  Alaska 297 

89.  Modern  harpoon  head  of  iron,  Cumberland  Sound 301 

90.  Iron  toggle  head,  Amur  River,  Asia 301 

91.  Shaft  of  toggle  harpoon,  Cumberland  Sound 302 

92.  Bone  foreshaft  of  harpoon,  Bristol  Bay,  Alaska 302 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES. 


1874-1876.  H.  H.  BANCROFT.  Native  races  of  the  Pacific  States.  New  York,  1874- 
1876,  5  vols.  (The  bibliography  in  the  first  volume  contains  the  titles  of  all 
early  explorers  on  the  west  coast  of  America  down  to  the  time  of  publication. ) 

1888.  FRANZ  BOAS.  The  Central  Eskimo.  Sixth  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology,  etc.  Washington,  1888,  pp.  399-669,  pis.  n-x,  figs.  390-546. 
(Excellent  bibliography  of  older  writers.) 

1890-1900.  DAVID  BOYLE.  Reports  on  the  Archaeology  of  Canada.  Toronto,  Depart- 
ment of  Education  of  the  Province  of  Ontario,  1890-1900. 

1877.  WILLIAM  H.  DALL.  Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology,  I.  Wash- 
ington, 1877. 

1887.  GUSTAV  HOLM.     Ethnologisk  Skizze  af  Angmagsalikerne.     Copenhagen,  1887, 

1-164,  363-400  pp.,  32  pis.,  map. 

1891.  P.  HYADES  and  J.  DENIKER.     Mission  Scientifique  du  Cap  Horn,  1882-1883, 

VII,  Anthropologie,  Ethnologie.     Paris,  1891,  422  pp.,  34  pis.,  map. 
1894.  A.  G.  MORICE.     Notes  archaeologiques,  industrielles  et  sociologiques  sur  les 
Denes  occidentaux.     Transactions  of  the  Canadian  Institute,  1894,  199  pp., 
figs. 

1892.  JOHN  MURDOCH.     Ethnological  Results  of  the  Point  Barrow  Expedition,  etc. 

Ninth  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  Washington,  1892  (1893). 
pp.  3-44,  pis.  i-xi,  figs.  1-428.  (Good  bibliography.) 

1899.  E.  W.  NELSON.     The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait.     Eighteenth  annual  report 

of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Part  I.  Washington,  1899,  518  pp., 
107  pis.,  165  figs.,  map. 

1888.  A.  P.  NIBLACK.     The  coast  Indians  of  southern  Alaska  and  northern  British 

Columbia.  Report  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1888,  pp.  225-386,  pis.  1-70, 
figs.  1-297,  map. 

1891.  J.W.POWELL.  Indian  linguistic  Families  of  North  America.  Seventh  annual 
report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  Washington,  1891,  1-142  pp. 

1877.  STEPHEN  POWERS.  Tribes  of  California.  Contributions  to  North  American 
Ethnology,  III.  Washington,  1877,  635  pp.,  figs.,  maps. 

1898.  FRANK  RUSSELL.  Explorations  in  the  far  North,  being  a  report  of  an  expedi- 
tion under  the  auspices  of  the  University  of  Iowa.  1898,  290  pp.,  pi.,  map. 

1894.  KARL  VON  DEN  STEINEN.  Unter  den  Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens.  Ber- 
lin, 1894,  570  pp.,  145  figs.,  map. 

1900.  JAMES  TEIT.     The  Thompson  River  Indians  of  British  Columbia.     Memoirs, 

American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York,  II,  Anthropology,  I,  392 

pp.,  pis.  xiv-xx. 
1883.  EDWARD  F.  IM  THURN.     Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana:  being  sketches,  chiefly 

anthropologic,  from   the   interior  of   British  Guiana.     London,  1883,  445 

pp. ,  53  illustrations,  and  a  map. 
1894.  LUCIEN  TURNER.     The  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo.     Eleventh  annual  report  of  the 

Bureau  of  Ethnology,  pp.  159-350,  pis.  26-43,  figs  121-155.     Washington, 

1894.      (Edited  by  John  Murdoch. ) 
196 


ABORIGINAL  AMERICAN  HARPOONS: 
A  STUDY  ON  ETHNIC  DISTRIBUTION  AND  INVENTION. 


By  OTIS  TUFTON  MASON, 
Curator,  Division  of  Ethnology. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  aborigines  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  were  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  the  animal  world.  Their  methods  of  taking  animals  for 
their  activities  were  as  follows: 

1.  Gathering  without  devices. 

2.  Gathering  with  devices. 

3.  Striking,  stunning,  bruising. 

4.  Slashing  with  edged  weapons. 

5.  Piercing,  by  stabbing,  by  thrusting,  by  hurling,  or  by  shooting. 

6.  Taking  in  traps  or  blinds. 

7.  Hunting  by  means  of  other  animals. 

8.  Capturing  with  light,  fire,  and  smoke. 

9.  Overcoming  by  asphyxiation,  poisons,  and  drugs. 

In  piercing  devices  the  ends  proposed  are  two,  namely,  to  reach 
some  vital  part,  and  hence  to  kill  instantly,  or  to  insert  a  barb  or  tog- 
gle under  the  skin  and  thereby  retrieve  the  animal.  These  piercing 
devices  may  be  divided  into  three  subclasses,  namely:  Those  with  a 
smooth  blade,  called  lances,  for  stabbing;  those  whose  blades  or  work- 
ing part  have  barbs  on  the  sides  for  retrieving  as  well  as  piercing,  and 
the  harpoon  subclass  with  movable  head.  A  harpoon  is  a  piercing  and 
retrieving  device  with  a  movable  head.  Few  other  inventions  of  sav- 
agery show  better  the  progress  of  thought  in  devising  means  for  over- 
coming difficulties  than  the  harpoon.  In  order  to  differentiate  this 
implement  from  others  of  the  piercing  type,  let  it  be  understood  that 
the  head  is  always  set  loosely  on  the  end  of  a  shaft,  to  which  it  is 
attached  by  means  of  a  line.  Even  when  shot  from  a  bow,  missiles 
having  this  structure  are  called  harpoon  arrows.  Every  part  of  the 
harpoon,  by  its  dimensions  and  form,  by  its  presence  or  absence,  or 
by  its  material  and  attachment,  lends  itself  to  classification  in  the 
studies  of  progress  concerning  the  apparatus  itself  and  its  geographic 
distribution. 

197 


198  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

Between  the  sharpened  stick  or  bone,  which  wounds  by  piercing-  and 
which  is  the  fundamental  device  of  all  lanceolate  weapons,  and  the 
harpoon,  there  are  one  or  two  intermediate  forms  among  the  Eskimo 
usually  associated  with  the  harpoon.  They  may  be  called  the  hinged 
lance  head  and  the  detachable  lance  head.  In  the  first  named  the  ivory 
or  bone  piece,  into  the  front  of  which  the  leaf -shaped  blade  is  set,  is  at 
its  other  extremity  hinged  to  the  foreshaft,  like  the  loose  shaft  of  a 
whale  harpoon.  The  detachable  lance  head  has  a  handle  or  tang  of 
wood  about  a  foot  in  length  and  less  than  an  inch  in  diameter.  On 
the  front  is  set  a  leaf -shaped  or  a  triangular  blade,  and  the  conical  base 
of  the  tang  fits  into  a  socket  in  the  end  of  the  heavy  shaft.  In  some 
examples  there  is  an  ivory  barb  projecting  from  the  handle  near  the 
blade,  which  is  a  spear  characteristic,  but  in  this  instance  it  was 
designed  to  retrieve  the  lance  head  and  not  the  animal.  E.  W.  Nelson 
figures  and  describes  a  great  variety  of  these.1  He  says  in  relation  to 
them  that  they  are  used  when  the  seal  or  walrus  has  been  disabled  so 
that  it  can  not  keep  out  of  reach  of  its  pursuers,  and  the  hunter  pad- 
dles up  close  alongside  and  strikes  the  animal,  driving  the  detachable 
head  in  its  entire  length.  The  head  remains  in  the  animal,  and  the 
hunter  immediately  fits  another  point  into  the  shaft  and  repeats  the 
blow,  thus  inserting  as  many  of  the  barbed  heads  as  possible,  until  the 
animal  is  killed  or  the  supply  of  points  exhausted.  Every  hunter  has 
his  private  mark  cut  on  these  points,  so  that,  when  the  animal  is 
secured,  each  is  enabled  to  reclaim  his  own.  These  lances  are  compan- 
ions of  harpoons,  and  examples  will  be  shown  in  their  proper 
connection. 

The  manner  of  functioning  with  the  harpoon  will  be  considered  only 
incidentally  here,  inasmuch  as  there  is  abundant  literature  on  the  sub- 
ject prepared  by  those  who  have  been  eyewitnesses  of  its  action  (see 
frontispiece).  For  the  Eskimo  the  student  ma}T  consult  Dall  (1877), 
Holm  (1887),  Boas  (1888),  Turner  (1894),  Murdoch  (1892),  and  Nelson 
(1899).  The  older  writings  are  abundantly  quoted  in  these,  and  the 
titles  of  authorities  for  the  western  Eskimo  will  be  found  in  H.  H. 
Bancroft  (1874-1876).  It  is  with  pleasure  here  acknowledged  that  the 
careful  observations  of  these  explorers  on  the  spot  have  made  possible 
this  comparative  study. 

PARTS   OP   THE    HARPOOX. 

The  fundamental  or  ideal  parts  of  the  harpoon  are  head,  loose  shaft, 
f oreshaf t,  shaft,  ice  pick,  line,  and  float.  These  parts  rarely  all  coexist 
in  a  single  specimen,  but  the  Eskimo  have  them  all  on  their  various 
harpoons,  while  each  part  also  takes  on  a  multitude  of  forms  and  itself 
is  often  quite  complex.  Besides  these  fundamental  parts,  there  are 
also  a  number  of  accessories,  which  will  be  considered  in  their  places. 


lrThe  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,  1899,  pp.  145-148,  pi.  LVII. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  199 

There  are  two  varieties  of  harpoons,  based  on  the  shape  of  the 
head — the  barbed  and  the  toggle;  but  the  former  or  simpler  passes 
insensibly  into  the  latter.  Barbed  harpoon  heads  are  attached  to  the 
shaft  by  means  of  a  connecting  line  tied  to  the  butt  or  tang  of  the 
head,  and  may  be  used  on  animals  with  tough  hides  (see  fig.  12).  The 
toggle  harpoon  head  is  attached  to  its  line  or  sling  by  its  middle,  the 
head  is  driven  entirely  into  the  animal,  and  toggling  under  the  skin 
gives  the  firmest  possible  hold  (see  fig.  1).  It  will  give  the  best  idea 
of  the  apparatus  to  take  up  the  parts  of  the  harpoon  in  order,  and  after 
that  to  study  the  question  of  distribution. 


PARTS  OP  THE  BARBED  HARPOON. 


The  parts  of  a  complete  barbed  harpoon  are  barbed  head,  foreshaft, 
shaft,  line,  feather,  and  bladder  (Plates  8,  9,  11,  16,  IT,  18,  and  19). 

Barbed  head. — The  head  of  a  barbed  harpoon  is  a  piece  of  wood, 
bone,  antler,  ivory,  shell,  or  metal,  with  tooth-like  projections  from 
its  margins  pointing  backward,  so  that  it  may  pierce  the  hides  of 
animals  but  can  not  be  withdrawn.  Its  action  is  to  ratchet  and  retrieve 
the  game.  The  parts  of  a  barbed  head  may  be  referred  to  as  point, 
body,  margins  or  edges,  sides  or  faces,  barbs,  line  hole  or  groove,  and 
tang  (see  figs.  13, 18  and  81).  As  to  position  the  barbs  are  unilateral  or 
bilateral.  The  unilateral  may  be  from  one  to  many.  Bilateral  barbs 
are  sagittate,  alternate,  or  opposite.  The  tang  is  wedge-shaped, 
conical,  or  spindle-shaped,  and  in  relation  to  the  connecting  line  is 
roughened,  notched,  bulbous,  or  pierced. 

Foreshaft. — The  foreshaft  of  a  barbed  harpoon  is  a  more  or  less 
cylindrical  or  pear-shaped  piece  of  heavy  material,  bone  or  ivory, 
fitted  on  to  the  end  of  the  shaft,  and  having  a  socket  in  front  to  receive 
the  tang  of  the  barbed  head.  In  the  rudest  harpoons,  such  as  the 
Fuegian,  nothing  of  the  kind  exists.  In  some  examples  the  foreshaft 
is  elaboratel}7  carved  in  imitation  of  the  heads  of  aquatic  animals. 
The  attachment  of  the  foreshaft  to  the  shaft  is  by  means  of  a  splice, 
a  wedge-shaped  tang  and  kerf,  a  socket  in  the  shaft  fitting  a  projec- 
tion on  the  foreshaft,  or  a  socket  in  the  loose  shaft  fitting  a  projection 
on  the  shaft.1  There  is  no  other  part  of  the  mechanism  which  taxed 
aboriginal  skill  more  than  the  joint  between  shaft  and  foreshaft. 
The  socket  in  the  front  of  the  foreshaft  for  the  tang  of  the  barbed 
head  has  inserted  in  it  a  plug  of  wood  having  a  small  cavity  into  which 
the  tang  of  the  head  fits  loosely.  The  loose  shaft  and  the  shaft  are 
bound  fast  together  with  sinew  twine  or  fine  rawhide  line,  the  many 
ingenious  knots  appearing  in  the  drawings  (see  fig.  83). 

Shaft. — The  shaft  of  a  barbed  harpoon  is  of  wood,  generally  rigid, 
but  of  light  weight.  In  length  it  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  many 

1 E.  W.  Nelson,  The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,  1899,  pi.  LVII  b,  figs.  33,  34. 


200  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

feet;  in  thickness,  from  one-fourth  of  an  inch  to  more  than  one  inch. 
Its  front  end  may  be  fitted  to  a  foreshaft,  but  in  the  most  primitive 
examples  there  is  a  rude  split  or  a  mere  cavity  dug  for  the  tang  of  the 
barb.  The  manual  or  inner  end  of  the  shaft  varies  in  form,  being 
either  tapering  and  without  function,  or  fitted  to  receive  the  hook  of 
a  throwing  stick, -or  notched  for  a  bowstring,  or  having  an  ice  pick 
of  hard  material  securely  fastened  to  it.1  When  not  projected  from  a 
throwing  stick  or  shot  from  a  bow  the  barbed  harpoon  is  held  in  or 
hurled  from  the  hand.  In  that  event  hand  rests  or  offsets  are  lashed 
to  the  shaft  near  the  center  of  gravity.2 

Connecting  line. — The  connecting  line  of  a  barbed  harpoon  at  first 
was  only  a  bit  of  string  or  thong  uniting  the  head  to  the  shaft.  If 
there  be  no  connecting  line  between  head  and  shaft,  the  weapon  is 
called  a  rankling  arrow,  because  the  head  stays  in  the  animal  and 
causes  death.  However,  the  rude  Fuegian  inventors  have  gotten 
beyond  that,  for  the  thong  is  carried  halfway  down  the  shaft  and 
made  fast  here  and  there  with  knots.  The  same  happy  thought  is 
called  by  Murdoch  an  "assembling  line,"  since  it  serves  in  case  of  a 
break  in  the  shaft  to  save  the  pieces.  In  the  larger  harpoons  and  the 
more  delicate  ones  the  assembling  line  is  a  separate  affair.  The  line 
of  the  more  complicated  barbed  harpoons  is  fastened  at  one  end  through 
the  line  hole  of  the  head.  The  other  end  is  bifurcated,  like  the  martin- 
gale of  a  bridle,  or  a  kite  string.  One  end  of  this  martingale  is  tied  to 
the  shaft  near  the  foreshaft,  the  other  near  the  butt  end  of  the  shaft. 
When  the  harpoon  is  ready  to  be  hurled  the  line  is  neatly  rolled  on 
the  shaft,  the  head  is  placed  in  its  socket,  and  a  slipknot  around  the 
shaft  takes  the  slack  in  the  line.  When  the  game  is  struck  the  head  is 
pulled  from  its  socket,  the  slipknot  is  released,  and  the  line  unrolls. 
The  foreshaft  being  of  bone,  drops  lowest  in  the  water,  so  that  the 
shaft  acts  as  a  drag.  It  serves  also  as  a  buoy,  since  the  upper  end, 
especially  when  feathered,  bobs  about  over  the  water  and  shows  the 
position  of  the  game. 

The  feathering  of  the  barbed  harpoon  is  that  of  the  arrow.  Look- 
ing at  this  characteristic  from  the  southward,  the  occurrence  of  feath- 
ers on  the  shafts  of  harpoons  in  lower  Bering  Sea  is  not  abnormal. 
The  float  of  the  barbed  harpoon  is  a  small  inflated  bladder,  stomach, 
or  intestine  attached  to  the  side  of  the  shaft,  helping  to  keep  the  latter 
erect  in  the  water.  These  structural  elements  are  much  more  highly 
developed  in  the  toggle  series  now  to  be  studied.  The  barbed  harpoon 
is  of  especial  interest  to  the  archaeologist,  who  finds  heads  of  bone  or 
antler  with  holes  and  knobs  or  grooves  for  attaching  the  connecting  line 
and  every  variety  of  barb,  in  both  shell  heaps  and  cemeteries  through- 
out Canada  and  the  United  States. 

1  The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,  1899,  pi.  LIV  and  i.v. 
2 Idem.,  pi.  XLVII  6,  figs.  31-32. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


201 


PARTS    OF    THE    TOGGLE    HARPOON. 


Toggle  /lead. — In  describing  a  toggle  harpoon  head  it  is  necessary  to 
orient  it,  not  that  the  Eskimo  is  known  to  have  held  any  portion  of 
the  apparatus  uppermost  habitually,  but  for  the 
sake  of  convenience  in  comparing  different  types 
and  styles.  However,  Captain  Herendeen  in- 
forms the  author  that  so  far  as  his  personal 
observation  goes  the  barb  of  a  toggle  harpoon 
head,  like  the  cock  feather  in  an  arrow,  is  held 
uppermost.  (See  fig.  1.) 

To  orient  a  toggle  it  must  be  placed  with  the 
barb  or  spur  at  the  rear  end  uppermost,  the 
point  away  from  the  observer.  It  Vill  then  be 
possible  to  speak  of  the  top,  back,  or  upper  side; 
of  the  bottom,  belly,  or  under  side;  of  the  right 
margin  and  the  left  margin;  of  the  front  or 
point;  and  of  the  butt  end  or  rear.  In  those 
large  examples,  wherein  there  are  right  and  left 
barbs  in  the  rear,  with  the  blade  in  the  plane 
of  the  widest  diameter  of  the  body  (Cat.  Nos. 
45947,  63948,  53950,  figs.  34-50),  the  top  may 
be  distinguished  from  the  bottom  by  means  of 
the  line  hole,  which  runs  in  a  bent  course 
through  the  body. 

The  parts  of  a  toggle  head  have  been  discussed 
b}T  Mr.  John  Murdoch.1 

When  the  toggle  head  is  oriented  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  is  possible  to  speak  of  the  following 
parts:  Bod}^,  blade,  blade  slit  or  kerf,  line  hole, 
line  grooves,  barbs  (side  and  rear),  socket  for 
loose  shaft,  butt  or  rear  end  of  the  body,  loose 
shaft,  blade  line,  loose-shaft  loop  or  running 
loop,  head  line  or  leader,  ornamentations,  and 
owner  marks.  Each  one  of  these  parts  should  be  described  and 
even  its  absence  noted.  The  characteristics  of  these  parts  are  as 
follows: 

Body. — Its  material,  shape  in  outline  and  section,  and  dimensions. 

Blade. — Its  material,  shape,  relation  to  the  bod}7,  whether  a  part  of 
it  or  not;  orientation,  whether  vertical  or  horizontal  in  the  plane  par- 
allel with  the  line  hole  or  across  it. 

Blade  slit  or  kerf. — Whether  saw  cut  or  coarse;  its  orientation. 
The  blade  cover  is  frequently  a  case  or  cover  for  the  entire  toggle 
head. 


Fig.  1. 

TYPE  FORM  OF  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Hudson  Bay. 

Collected    by    Ludwig    Kumlien. 
Cat.  No.  25654,  U.S.N.M. 


1  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


202  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

Line  hole. — The  opening  through  the  body  of  the  toggle  head  for 
the  rawhide  sling  or  leader  on  which  the  toggle  head  hinges.  In  very 
modern  examples  and  in  the  heads  of  small  seal  harpoons  the  hole  is 
bored  straight  through,  but  in  old  specimens  two  much  coarser  holes 
are  bored,  one  from  each  side  of  the  belly  inward  and  upward,  meet- 
ing midway.  All  sharp  edges  within  and  without  are  carefully 
smoothed  and  rounded  to  protect  the  line  and  to  facilitate  the  toggling. 
The  points  to  be  considered  concerning  the  line  hole  are  the  shape, 
size,  and  method  of  boring,  and  its  position  with  reference  to  the 
other  parts  of  the  toggle  head.  Line  holes  run  directly  through  the 
narrow  body  type,  but  in  a  curved  path  through  the  belly  of  other 
types.  In  a  few  abnormal  specimens  it  stands  vertical,  but  in  the 
great  majority  of  examples  it  goes  horizontally  across  the  body. 
Holm  figures  toggle  heads  from  east  Greenland,  in  which  the  head  is 
hinged  to  the  foreshaf t  by  means  of  a  rivet. 

Line  grooves. — Gutters  or  channels  extending  backward  from  the 
line  hole  in  which  the  rawhide  line  lies  out  of  the  way.  In  fact  the 
line  grooves  are  backward  extensions  of  the  line  hole.  Their  width 
and  depth  have  relation  to  the  width  and  thickness  of  the  rawhide  line 
used.  In  old  specimens  the}7  are  wider  and  clumsier. 

Barl)  or  spur. — The  projection  backward  in  a  toggle  head  at  its  butt 
end  has  for  its  function  to  catch  into  the  flesh  of  the  animal  beneath 
the  skin,  so  as  to  revolve  the  head  ninety  degrees,  and  thus  to  effect 
the  toggling  of  the  head  in  the  wound,  as  in  the  fastening  of  a  trace 
chain.  In  its  way  it  is  as  important  as  the  blade,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  quite  as  much  ingenuit}'  has  been  spent  on  this  part  as  on  any 
other.  If,  for  example,  when  the  animal  is  struck,  the  spurs  of  the 
rear  barb  were  covered  by  the  rawhide  line  the  head  might  not  toggle; 
hence,  in  a  toggle  head  of  the  old-fashioned  type  the  line  hole  lies 
below  the  center  of  the  mass.  The  entire  projection  of  the  toggle  head 
back  of  the  line  hole  may  be  called  the  spur  to  distinguish  it  from 
marginal  barbs  also  sometimes  present. 

Shaft  socket. — The  socket  is  a  conoidai  excavation  in  the  butt  end  of 
a  toggle  head,  into  which  the  forward  end  of  the  shaft  or  loose  shaft 
fits  loosely.  It  will  be  readily  understood  that  the  socket  is  centered 
as  exactly  as  possible.  There  is  little  or  no  variation  in  this  part 
except  of  size  and  neatness.  When  the  toggle  head  has  been  thrust 
into  a  beast  the  foreshaft  or  the  loose  shaft  must  be  withdrawn  in 
order  to  allow  the  weapon  to  do  its  work. 

Butt. — The  butt  or  rear  end  of  a  toggle  head  is  shaped  in  relation 
to  the  barb  especially  and  also  to  the  socket.  In  fact,  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  butt  end  is  a  part  of  the  barb  or  spur.  The  exact  method 
of  shaping  and  treating  this  part  seems  to  depend  largely  on  the  mate- 
rial, whether  ivory,  antler,  or  bone.  The  first  named  is  solid,  and 
the  butt  is  acute  angled  above  and  sawed  off  square  below.  The  other 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  203 

materials  have  more  or  less  of  spongy  core  or  are  hollow.  In  such 
examples  the  butt  is  mitered  off  with  the  acute  angle  at  the  barbs,  and 
then  scooped  out  and  dished  about  the  socket. 

Blade  line. — This  is  wanting  in  a  great  many  examples.  It  is  a 
little  twine  of  sinew  extending  from  the  inner  left-hand  corner  of  the 
blade,  where  it  is  looped  into  a  small  perforation,  backward  to  the 
first  wrapping  of  the  leather  sling  or  leader. 

Leader  or  sling. — The  toggle  sling  is  a  loop  of  rawhide  thong  or 
sinew  twi.ne,  a  foot,  more  or  less,  in  length,  passing  through  the  line 
hole  of  the  toggle  head  at  one  end  and  at  the  other  end  attached  to  the 
main  line  by  means  of  a  splice,  toggle,  or  clasp,  to  be  described  later. 
The  two  ends  of  this  sling  are  spliced  or  joined  after  the  neatest  and 
most  elaborate  Eskimo  st}Tles.  A£  one  or  more  points  the  two  sides 
of  the  loop  are  carefully  united  by  wrapping  (fig.  83).  In  the  collec- 
tions of  the  I>.  S.  National  Museum  the  smaller  harpoon  heads  with 
leaders  are  accompanied  with  sticks  of  pine  wood  on  which  the  appa- 
ratus is  kept  stretched  when  not  in  action  (fig.  84).  In  the  great  har- 
poons, as  will  be  learned  in  the  description  of  the  line,  there  is  no 
leader  or  sling  to  the  toggle  head,  which  is  hinged  at  once  onto  a  bend 
in  the  end  of  the  main  line.  Without  the  hinging  line  the  movable 
head  is  only  a  rankling  device.  For  instance,  the  loose  head  of  many 
South  American  arrows,  formed  of  a  socketed  bone  of  a  monkey, 
remains  in  the  wound,  but  not  being  attached  to  a  line  for  retrieving 
it  is  not  a  harpoon  head.  The  step  between  the  two,  however,  is  but 
a  short  one. 

Loose  xJiaft. — The  part  of  a  toggle  harpoon  which,  at  its  forward 
end,  fits  into  the  socket  of  the  head  and  in  some  way  is  hinged  or 
joined  to  the  foreshaft  at  its  hinder  end,  as  seen  in  figs.  2,  48,  is  called 
the  loose  shaft.  The  two  varieties  are  the  spindle-shaped  and  the 
conoidal.  The  former  is  joined  on  to  the  leader  or  sling  of  the  toggle 
head  by  a  running  loop  or  grommet  (fig.  83);  the  latter  is  strapped  to 
the  end  of  the  shaft  by  a  rawhide  thong,  and  makes  a  ball-and-socket 
joint  (fig.  49).  In  either  case  the  body  of  the  loose  shaft  is  perforated 
with  one  or  more  holes.  When  the  toggle  head  is  in  place  on  the 
loose  shaft  the  line  is  drawn  taut,  so  that  the  loop  or  bone  eyelet  on 
the  line  may  be  buttoned  over  its  peg  on  the  shaft  (fig.  79). 

Writers  on  the  Eskimo  harpoon  say  that  the  knee  joint  between  the 
loose  shaft  and  the  foreshaft  is  to  prevent  the  accidental  breaking  of 
the  shaft.  Captain  Spicer  gives  additional  functions  to  this  structure 
of  the  implement.  He  says  that  it  aids  in  the  shipping  and  unshipping 
of  the  toggle  head  with  reference  to  the  loose  shaft  after  the  eyelet  on 
the  line  is  over  its  peg  on  the  shaft.  When  an  Eskimo  hunter  would 
prepare  his  harpoon  for  striking,  he  puts  the  eyelet  which  is  attached 
to  the  line  over  the  peg  on  the  shaft,  sets  the  loose  shaft  at  an  angle 
in  the  socket  of  the  shaft,  puts  the  toggle  head  in  position,  and 


204 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


straightens  up  the  loose  shaft.  This  brings  all  taut  for  the  stroke. 
As  soon  as  the  game  is  struck  the  shaft  is  pulled  to  one  side  by  the 
movements  of  the  animal,  the  loose  shaft  comes  out  of  its  socket  and 
detaches  itself  from  the  toggle  head.  This  enables  the  hunter  to  pull 
away  his  shaft  easily  and  instantly. 

ForesJicift. — The  foreshaft  of  a  harpoon  is  the  working  end  of  the 
shaft,  and  is  usually  ji  block  of  bone  or  ivory  neatly  fitted  on.  Fore- 
shafts  vary  in  material,  being  of 
antler,  bone,  ivory,  or  metal;  in  size 
and  shape,  from  the  delicate  front 
of  the  sea-otter  harpoon  to  the 
clumsy  variety  on  the  Greenland 
whaling  harpoon;  in  the  mode  of 
attachment  to  the  shaft,  in  the 
socket,  and  lashing  for  the  loose 
shaft  (see  Plates  6,  8,  9,  10,  12, 15, 
and  18). 

Shaft.—  The  shaft  of  the  har- 
poon is  of  wood;  in  treeless  areas, 
of  driftwood,  but  in  the  north  Pa- 
cific it  is  a  long,  slender  pole  of 
cedar.  For  the  purpose  of  stud}7, 
shafts  have  to  be  considered  in 
relation  to  materials,  shapes,  and 
sizes;  to  hand  stops  or  rests  for 
thrusting;  to  line  pegs,  throwing 
stick  pegs,  assembling  line,  etc. 
For  catching  sea-otter  the  dart 
shaft  is  half  an  inch  in  diameter 
and  4:  feet  long,  while  some  of  the 
clumsy  Greenland  examples  are  2 
or  3  inches  in  diameter,  and  the 
east  Greenland  deep-water  variety 
and  sled  variety  for  killing  on  the 
ice  at  a  distance  have  shafts  many 
feet  in  length,  requiring  two  men 
to  work  them. 

The  shaft  has  the  double  function 
of  stabbing  and  retrieving.  For  the  former  (1)  it  may  be  thrust  at  the 
victim,  in  which  case,  in  order  to  give  a  firmer  grasp,  a  projecting 
piece  of  wood  or  bone  or  ivory  is  fastened  near  the  center  of  gravity 
to  stop  the  hand.  Near  this  is  frequently  found  a  peg,  over  which  is 
hooked  the  line  to  hold  the  head  firmly  on  to  the  loose  shaft.  (2)  It 
may  be  thrown  as  a  javelin  from  the  hands.  (3)  It  may  be  hurled 
from  a  throwing  stick.  This  method  will  be  more  fully  described  in  a 


Fig.  2. 

LOOSE  SHAFTS  OF  TOGGLE  HARPOONS. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlienand  Lucien  Turner. 

Cat.  Nos.  90165,  2991,  34098,  34063. 

After  Franz  Boas. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  205 

special  paper.  The  series  begins  with  the  plain  shaft,  and  includes 
the  hand-rest  type,  the  throwing  stick  type,  the  Giliak  long  pole  and 
floating-head  type,  the  east  Greenland  sled-point  type,  the  east  Green- 
land deep-sea  shaft  type,  and  the  Amazon  type,  in  which  the  throwing 
stick  is  cast  overboard. 

By  the  function  of  retrieving  is  meant  recovering  the  game  after  it 
has  been  struck.  For  this  purpose  the  shaft  is  in  many  cases  thrown 
overboard,  and,  being  attached  by  one  end  of  the  line,  while  the  other 
is  tied  to  the  harpoon  head  in  the  animal,  acts  as  a  drag  and  a  buoy  to 
impede  the  progress  of  the  animal  and  to  show  its  position. 

Ice  pick. — On  the  butt  end  of  the  harpoon  shaft  may  be  found,  in 
arctic  examples,  a  long  ivory  pick  for  enlarging  a  hole  in  the  ice  in 
order  to  remove  the  game.  This  is  replaced  with  a  boat-hook  arrange- 
ment in  others.  Types  of  the  butt*  end  of  the  shaft  exist  in  the  forms 
following: 

1.  The  plain  butt,  without  function. 

2.  The  feathered  end,  akin  to  the  arrow. 

3.  The  socketed  end,  for  throwing  stick. 

4.  The  Greenland  type,  with  ivory  feathering. 

5.  The  pick. 

6.  The  carved  pick,  Nunivak  type,  on  lances  with  loose  heads. 
Nansen l  traces  the  elaborate  Greenland  harpoon  shaft,  with  its  many 

accessories,  thus: 

1.  The  Indian  arrow,  with  its  variety  of  feathering. 

2.  The  feathered  harpoon  darts  in  southeastern  Alaska. 

3.  Farther  north  the  disappearance  of  the  feather  and  the  occurrence 
of  the  small  bladder  on  the  shaft. 

4.  The  harpoon,  with  line  and  skin  float,  the  last  named  being  de- 
tached from  the  shaft  and  attached  to  the  head. 

Line. — The  line  of  the  harpoon  also  has  had  its  peculiar  elaboration, 
answering  to  external  exigencies  and  opportunities  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  savage  on  the  other.  The  Fuegian  sinew 
thread,  a  few  inches  long,  is  far  awa}7  from  the  Greenland  whale  line, 
and  a  series  would  take  some  such  order  as  the  following: 

1.  The  Fuegian  type,  short  sinew  cord  tied  around  both  the  head 
and  the  shaft. 

2.  The  western  Eskimo  type,  line  tied  to  head  and  middle  of  shaft. 

3.  Martingale  type,  attached  to  shaft  in  two  places. 

4.  With  skin  float,  head  fastened  to  line. 

5.  Entirely  separate,  with  ivory  or  bone  toggles  for  fastening  to  the 
leader  strap  of  the  head  and  to  the  float. 

The  harpoon  line  developed  a  deal  of  ingenuity  in  the  textile  art. 
Shredded  sinew,  thread,  twine,  and  braid  or  sennit  are  in  demand 
constantly.  Rawhide  line  in  great  variety  is  also  a  necessity. 

1  Across  Greenland,  London,  1890,  II,  p.  260. 

NAT   MU8  1900^— —14 


206 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


Here  also  originated  the  whole  scheme  of  knots  and  splices,  as  will 

be  abundantly  shown  in  the  illustrations  that  follow.     The  Eskimo 

made  a  button  or  frog  on  the  end  of  a  rawhide  line  by  cutting  a  slit 
near  the  end  and  doubling  the  end  back  through 
the  slit.  They  were  extremely  neat  and  skillful 
in  fastening  off  lashings.  Boas  and  Murdoch 
have  given  special  attention  to  the  Eskimo  knots. 
With  the  line,  in  its  highest  estate,  go  certain 
accessories,  such  as  the  eyelet,  for  making  fast 
to  a  peg  on  the  shaft  (fig.  3),  the  line  rack  on  the 
kaiak,  and  a  multitude  of  ingenious  inventions 
which  Nelson  calls  "detachers,"  since  they  make 
it  possible  in  the  frozen  Arctic  for  the  hunter  to 
take  his  apparatus  apart  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  line  from  getting  out  of 
order,  a  swivel  is  sometimes  used.  One  brought 
from  Cumberland  Sound  by  Kumlien  and  de- 
scribed by  him  is  represented  in  fig.  4.  There 
was  a  ball  in  the  hollow  body  of  this  instrument, 
which  could  not  be  pulled  through  any  of  the 
openings.  One  line  was  fastened  to  this  ball, 
passing  through  the  central  hole,  and  another 
one  to  the  top  of  the  swivel.  A  simpler  pattern 

is  represented  by  Boas,1  in  which  the  ball  in  the  socket  would  be  a 

spherical  knot  on  the  end  of  the  line. 

Float*. — The  sealskin  bag  used  as  a  float  on  the  end  of  the  line  of 

the  harpoon  for  killing  whale  and  beluga  is  in  Una- 

leet  agau  uk,  bag;  in  Malemut  Aygt  nuk;  the  float, 

in  both  dialects,  is  Oa  tuk.     Nelson  describes  two 

sizes.     The  smaller  one  is  fastened  to  the  line  after 

the  beluga  has  become  unable  to  struggle  much. 

The  large  float  which  has  tired  the  beluga  is  at  the 

end  of  the  line.     This  small  one  is  gradually  slipped 

nearer  by  the  man  in  the  kaiak  until  it  is  distant 

4  or  5  feet,  when  the  coup  is  made  and  the  prey 

secured.     Boas  describes  and  figures  examples  from 

Cumberland  Sound  (figs.  5,  6). 

By  far  the  largest  floats  in  the  U.  S.  National 

Museum  collection  are  those  of  the  Aht  or  Nutka 

whalers  off  Vancouver  Island.     The  skin  of  a  seal 

is  taken  off  whole,  making  a  float  3  feet  long  and  2  feet  wide. 
Line  rack. — Of  the  rack  on  the  kaiak  in  front  of  the  hunter  (Unaleet, 

Achal  ook;  Malemut,  A  shal  odk)  for  holding  the  rawhide  line,  Nelson 


Fig.  3. 
EYELET  OX  HARPOON   LINE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlien. 

Cat.  No.  34123,  U.S.N.M. 

After  Franz  Boas. 


Fig.  4. 
LINE  SWIVEL. 

Cumberland  Sound. 
Collected  by  Ludwig  Kum 

lien. 

Cat.  No.  34121.  U.S.N.M. 
After  Franz  Boas. 


1  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  481. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


207 


says  that  the  line  is  coiled  on  it  with  harpoon  attached  to  one  end  and 
the  large  float  to  the  other  end,  and  lightly  fastened  back  of  the  hunter. 
When  the  line  has  nearly  run  out  the  float  is  thrown  overboard.  The 
rack  is  fastened  to  the  kaiak  with  grass  strings,  so  that,  should  the  line 


Fig.  5. 

SEALSKIN  FLOAT. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  W.  A.  Mintzer.    Cat.  No.  30009,  U.S.N.M. 
After  Franz  Boas. 


become  entangled,  the  rack  would  be  easily  torn  away  without  upset- 
ting the  craft.  (Plate  14.)  It  would  then  act  as  an  impediment  to  the 
progress  of  the  animal. 


Fig.  6. 
MOUTHPIECES  TO  FLOATS. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  W.  A.  Mintzer  and  Ludwig  Kumlien.    Cat.  Nos.  29986,  34118, 34119.  34120,  U.S.If.M. 
After  Franz  Boas. 

In  the  accompanying  plate  (after  Nelson)  will  be  seen  a  great  number 
of  harpoon  parts  just  mentioned.     (Plate  1.) 

16125.  Small  toggle  harpoon  head  with  stone  blade  and  leader  of  rawhide  done  up 
on  a  short  piece  of  wood.  The  cap  belonging  to  this  head  is  shown  above. 
Nunivak  Island.  William  H.  Dall. 


208  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

33465.  Finger  rest  for  harpoon,  triangular  in  form  and  ornamented  with  a  carving  of 

a  seal  in  low  relief.     Fastened  on  to  a  shaft  by  means  of  a  lashing  through 

three  perforations.     St.  Michael.     E.  W.  Nelson. 

33632.  Toggle  head  of  a  walrus  harpoon  of  late  pattern,  since  the  carving  is  mechan- 
ical in  outline.     Norton  Sound.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 
33641.  Finger  rest  for  harpoon  shaft  in  form  of  n  bird's  beak,  fastened  on  to  the  shaft 

by  a  lashing  through  three  perforations.     Norton  Sound.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
36097.  Foreshaft  of  seal  harpoon,  cylindrical  in  form,  showing  wedge-shaped  notch 

and  the  method  of  attachment  to  the  end  of  the  wooden  shaft.     Big  Lake. 

E.  W.  Nelson. 
37377.  Toggle  head  of  a  walrus  harpoon  with  stone  blade,  showing  the  method  in 

which  the  leader  of  rawhide  is  attached  to  the  loose  shaft  by  means  of  sinew 

thread.     Chalitmut.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
3741 7.  Foreshaft  of  bone  carved  in  shape  of  an  animal's  head  and  showing  the  method 

of  attaching  the  foreshaft  to  the  wooden  shaft.     Anagogmut.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
37671.  Finger  rest  of  bone,  with  triangular  perforations  for  lashing  to  the  wooden 

shaft.     Kongigumogumut.     E.  W.  Nelson. 

38529.  Slate  blade  of  harpoon  head.     Lower  Yu^on.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
43461.  Bone  head  of  barbed  harpoon  for  seals.     Tang,  wedge  shaped;   line  hole, 

oblong;  four  barbs,  all  on  one  side.     St.  Michael.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 
43865.  Finger  rest  for  large  seal  spears.     In  form  of  a  seal's  head;  hole  for  lashing, 

triangular.     Unalakleet.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
44077.  Barbed  head  of  large  seal  harpoon.     Tang,  wedge  shaped;   hole,  circular; 

barbs,  three  on  one  side  and  two  on  the  other.     Mouth  of  Koyuk  River. 

E.  W.  Nelson. 
44405.  Ice  pick  of  ivory  for  end  of  large  harpoon.     Fastened  by  lashings  through 

four  perforations.     Cape  Nome.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
44421.  Barbed  head  for  seal  harpoon.     Line  hole,  oblong;  barbs,  two  on  one  side  and 

one  on  the  other.     Cape  Nome.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 
44699.  Toggle  head  of  seal  or  walrus  harpoon,  complete,  with  slate  blade.     Sledge 

Island.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 
44703.  Loose  shaft  of  seal  and  walrus  harpoon.     Butt  squared  off  and  having  a  small 

spindle-shaped  projection  fitting  in  a  socket  on  the  top  of  the  foreshaft. 

Sledge  Island.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 

44746.  Iron  head  of  seal  and  walrus  harpoon.     Sledge  Island.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
44812.  Finger  rest  for  large  harpoon.     Sledge  Island.     E.  AAr.  Nelson. 

45170.  Finger  rest  for  large  harpoon.     Sledge  Island.     E.  W.  Nelson. 

45171.  Finger  rest  for  large  harpoon.     Sledge  Island.     E.  W.  Nelson. 
45173.  Cord  fastener  for  large  harpoon.     Sledge  Island.     E.  AAT.  Nelson. 
48276.  Barbed  head  for  harpoon.     Nunivak  Island.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 

48293.  Finger  rest  for  large  spear.  In  shape  of  a  boat's  rudder,  set  on  by  lashings 
around  the  shaft  through  three  perforations  in  the  rest.  Nunivak  Island. 
E.  AV.  Nelson. 

48471.  Toggle  head  for  harpoon  (toy).     Kegiktowik.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 

48820.  Slate  blade  of  toggle  harpoon  head.     Rasbonisky.     F.  AV.  Nelson. 

63334.  Old  barbed  and  toggle  head,  for  seal,  combined,  showing  the  method  of  pro- 
viding shaft  socket  by  lashing.  St.  Lawrence.  E.  AV.  Nelson. 

63497.  Foreshaft  of  barbed  harpoon  for  seals.  It  fits  into  a  wedge-shaped  notch  in 
the  end  of  the  shaft.  St.  Lawrence.  E.  AV.  Nelson. 

63842.  Finger  rest.     Head  and  neck  of  seal  carved  om  from  the  material,  probably 

antler.     Attached  by  lashing  to  the  thin,  graft-like  portion  to  the  shaft. 
Point  Hope.     E.  W.  Nelson. 

63843.  Finger  rest,  Point  Hope.     E.  W.  Nelson. 

63844.  Finger  rest,  Point  Hope.     E.  AV.  Nelson. 

126812.  Ice  pick  for  harpoon.     St.  Laurence.     E.  W.  Nelson. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  1. 


Q. 
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ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


209 


ACCESSORIES   TO   THE    HARPOON. 


Besides  the  hundred  and  one  parts  of  the  harpoon  immediately 
attached  to  it  there  are  unlimited  accessories  which  have  been  called 
into  existence  at  its  demands.  The  hunter  has  a  peculiar  costume 
which  he  puts  on  when  he  goes  harpooning.  Certain  kinds  of  food 
are  demanded;  a  multitude  of  charms  and  lore  are  inseparable  from 
the  implement.  In  addition,  the  hunter  takes  along  several  devices 
to  gain  information,  to  decoy  the  game,  and  to  add  to  his  own  com- 
fort. All  about  the  American  coast  where  great  fish  or  mammals 
existed  the  water  craft  were  improved  immensely.  The  Nutka  dug- 
out canoes  and  the  Eskimo  kaiak  are  unrivaled,  and  they  are  the 
ministers  of  the  harpoon.  In  like  manner  the  sled,  the  dog,  the  har- 
ness, the  shifting  tent  owe  their  fofms  and  usefulness  to  the  ingenious 
mind  which  devised  and  perfected  the  harpoon,  which  is  no  doubt  the 
most  virile  of  all  savage  inventions. 

Sometimes  a  small  implement  is  used  in  the  hunt  to  indicate  the 
approach  of  the  seal.  It  is  called  qipekutang,  and  consists  of  a  very  thin 


Fig.  7. 

SEAL  INDICATORS. 

Point  Barrow,  Alaska. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray.    Cat.  No.  56507.  U.S.N.M. 
After  John  Murdoch. 

rod  with  a  knob  or  a  knot  at  one  end.1  It  is  stuck  through  the  snow, 
the  end  passing  into  the  water,  the  knob  resting  on  the  snow.  As  soon 
as  the  seal  rises  to  blow,  it  strikes  the  rod,  which,  by  its  movements, 
warns  the  hunter.  Generally  it  is  made  of  whale's  bone.  Sometimes 
a  string  is  attached  to  the  knob  and  fastened  by  a  pin  to  the  snow,  as 
its  movements  are  more  easily  detected  than  those  of  the  knob.  The 
natives  are  somewhat  averse  to  using  this  implement,  as  it  frequently 
scares  the  seals.2 

When  watching  for  a  seal  at  his  breathing  hole,  the  Point  Barrow 
native  inserts  into  the  hole  a  rod  of  ivory.  When  the  seal  rises,  it 
pushes  up  this  rod  and  thus  warns  the  hunter  when  to  shoot  or  to  har- 
poon3 (fig.  7). 

The  sealing  stool  is  a  small  triangular  plank  with  three  short  legs, 
on  which  a  hunter  squats  when  watching  at  a  seal  hole,  where  fre- 


1  Parry.  Second  Voyage,  II,  p.  550,  fig.  20. 

2  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  478. 

3  Murdoch,  Point  Barrow  Expedition,  p.  255,  fig.  255. 


210 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


Fig.  8. 
SEALING  STOOL. 

Point  Barrow,  Alaska. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray.    Cat.  No.  89887.  U.S.N.M. 
After  John  Murdoch. 


quently  he  has  to  stand  for  hours  motionless  on  the  ice.1     Murdoch 

makes  the  important  state- 
ment that  this  device  is 
not  found  elsewhere  save 
at  the  Mackenzie  mouth 
and  in  arctic  Alaska  (Rob- 
ert MacFarlane's  notes). 
Egede  describes  and  fig- 
ures a  "sort  of  one-legged 
chair  and  a  footstool." 
Also  Cranz  (fig.  81). 

Cat.  No.  38751  (fig.  9)  is 
an  apparatus  for  joining 
the  two  parts  of  a  har- 
poon line;  it  may  be  the 
leader  attached  to  the  line 
hole  through  the  head  or 
it  may  be  on  an  extra  line 
used  to  lengthen  the  dis- 
tance between  the  head 

and  the  float.     A  collection  of  these  from  different  areas  would  form 

an  interesting    study.      The   extreme 

cold  of  the  region,  stiffening  the  line 

and  freezing  the  hands  of  the  fisher- 
man, makes  it  necessary  to  have  some 

device  which  renders  the  rapid  ship- 
ping and  unshipping  of  the  line  cer- 
tain and  eas}7.  In  the  example  here 

shown  the  detacher  is   carved  in   the 

shape  of  a  seal's  head.      The   leader 

passes  through  the  hole  drilled  in  the 

neck  of  the  animal,  while  the  line  to  be 

attached  is  looped  and  pushed  through 

the  mouth  of  the  seal,  around  a  stud 

on  top  of  the  head,  and  hooked.    While 

this  attachment  is  secure  enough  where 

there  is  a  steady  strain,  the  hunter  has 

only  to  push  the  loop  backward,  when 

it  relieves  itself  from  the  button  or  stud 

and  can  easily  be  withdrawn.    Especial 

attention  is  called  in  this  example  to  Fig. 

the  neatness  with  which  the  f  rapping  J-INE  DETACHER. 

is  done  on  the    rawhide   thongs,  the  st.  Michael,  Alaska. 

,      n  ,  ,  ,  ,  .  -,  ,,    , ,  Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.    Cat.  No.  38754. 

whale  carved  on  the  under  side  of  the  U.S.N.M. 


Point  Barrow  Expedition,  1892,  p.  255,  fig.  256. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


211 


object,  the  curved  line  or  serrate  ornament,  the  owner  mark  on  the 
back  of  the  head,  and  the  existence  of  the  dot  and  circle  ornament  for 
eyes  and  on  the  button  or  side. 

Figures  4=0  and  41,  pages  144  and  145,  in  Nelson  (1900),  are  good 
illustrations  of  this  type. 

Cat.  No.  45060  (fig.  10)  in  the  U.   S.  National  Museum  is  a  seal 
decoy  from  Sledge  Island,  collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.     It  consists  of 
a  handle  of  pine  wood  rudely  carved  at  the  butt  end  to  resemble  the  face 
of  a  seal,  and  at  the  other  end  into  three  prongs.     Upon 
each  one  of  these  prongs  is  fitted  a  toe  of  a  seal  so  that 
the  three  points  will  touch  the  same  surface.     Around 
each  of  these  is  wrapped,  by  half  hitches,  a  continuous 
thread  of  sinew  and  loops  passing  .around  a  jog  or  pro- 
jection on  the  end  of  a  stud  in  the  handle  just  where  it 
is  pronged.     This  stud,  of  walrus  ivory,  has  carved  at 
the  other  extremity  the  head 
of  a  seal,  the  eyes,  ears,  and 
nostrils  indicated  by  insertions 
of  black  substance  like  whale- 
bone.     The  use  of  this,  it  is 
said  by  those  who  have  trav- 
eled in  Alaska,  is  to   scratch 
upon  the  ice  in  order  to  imi- 
tate the  noise  made  by  the  male 
seal   and   thereby   attract  his 
mate.     On  hearing  the  noise 
above,  the  seal  that  is  under 
the  ice  comes  to  the  breathing 
hole  and  is  soon  dispatched  by 
the  hunter. 

The  ice  scoop,  an  accessory 
to  the  harpoon,  found  all  over 
the  arctic  regions,  is  shown 
in  fig.  11,  a  and  J.  The  first 
example,  fig.  11^,  is  from  the 
Amur  region;  11  ~b  shows  a 
similar  device  from  Cape  Nome,  Alaska,  south  of  Bering  Strait.  After 
the  seal  is  struck  with  the  harpoon  down  through  the  small  breath- 
ing hole,  it  is  necessary  to  enlarge  the  opening  in  order  to  withdraw 
the  body  of  the  animal.  This  is  done  with  the  pick  on  the  butt  end  of 
the  harpoon.  As  soon  as  the  opening  is  large  enough  the  hunter  pro- 
ceeds to  remove  the  broken  ice  at  once  b}7  means  of  a  scoop,  the  essen- 
tial parts  of  which  are  the  handle,  the  bow,  and  the  webbing.  In  the 
example  from  Schrenk  here  figured  the  very  primitive  way  of  attach- 
ing the  spoon  to  the  handle  is  worthy  of  notice.  The  spoon  is  kite- 


Fig.  10. 

DECOY   FOR  SEAL. 

Sledge  Island,  Alaska. 
Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.    Cat.  No.  45060,  U.S.N.M. 


212 


REPORT  OK  NATIONAL  MUSEUM,  1900. 


shaped  in  form,  the  butt  ends  crossing  and  lashed  to  the  handle  a  little 
above  the  lower  ends,  which  rest  underneath  a  short  bit  of  wood  or 
across  the  spoon  at  either  end  by  means  of  a  rawhide  thong.  The 
examples  of  this  apparatus  are  figured  in  Nelson,  Murdoch,  and  Boas. 
Among  the  accessories  to  the  harpoon,  the  throwing  stick  or  board, 
called  atlatl  by  the  Mexicans,  must  not  be  omitted.  True,  the  cun- 
ning device  was  used  all  around  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  across  the  Arctic 
for  projecting  spears  as  well  as  har- 
poons, and  there  are  other  methods 
of  using  the  harpoon  effectively; 
but  the  elaboration  of  the  atlatl 
throughout  was  greatly  stimulated 
by  association  with  the  harpoon. 
The  proper  discussion  and  illustra- 
tion of  this  accessory,  however, 
would  far  exceed  the  limitations  of 
this  article,  and  will  therefore  be 
reserved  for  a  separate  paper.  A 
map  showing  the  distribution  of  the 
atlatl  in  the  Western  Hemisphere 
would  be  marked  on  Greenland, 
Labrador,  Baffin  Land,  Mackenzie 
River,  all  about  Alaska  to  British 
Columbia,  Santa  Barbara,  cliff 
dwellings  of  the  Colorado,  through- 
out Mexico,  Central  America,  Flor- 
ida, Colombia,  the  Orinoco,  and  the 
Amazon  on  several  of  its  great  trib- 
utaries, especially  in  the  Mato 
Grosso. 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  HARPOONS. 


Fig.  11. 

ICE  SCOOPS. 

Amur  River  and  Bristol  Bay. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson;  a,  after  Schrenk;  b,  Cat. 

No.  46409,  U.S.N.M. 


The  continent  of  South  America 
was  not  favorable  to  the  harpoon. 
Most  of  its  shores  descend  at  once 
into  the  inhospitable  deep  sea.  Ex- 
cept at  its  narrow  and  bleak  coast  southward,  animals  best  captured 
with  the  harpoon  did  not  abound.  Inland  there  were  pampas  and  for- 
ests, better  suited  to  bolas,  spears,  slings,  blow  tubes,  and  the  bow. 
It  is  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  on  the  west  coast,  and  in  the  open 
waters  of  the  great  rivers  that  a  rude  barbed  harpoon  and  excellent 
harpoon  arrows  existed.  Nor  can  the  thought  be  slighted  that  outside 
of  the  favored  Cordilleras,  the  luxuriance  of  nature  overpowered  the 
inventive  faculty,  which  indeed  is  developed  among  difficulties  so  long 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE 


FUEGIAN  BARBED  HARPOON  HEADS. 

Collected  by  United  States  Fish  Commission  steamer  Albatross. 
Cat.  Nos.  127566,  131217,  131218,  178805,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


213 


I 


as  there  is  hope,  but  gives  way  to  despair  when  nature  even  by  her 
riches  shuts  the  door  against  invention.     This  part 
of  the  South  American  Indian's  equipment  was  not 
of  a  high  order,  since  his  patent  which  he  received 
for  his  cunning  was  so  meager. 

Fuegian  type, — About  the  Straits  of  Magellan  are 
three  linguistic  families  of  Indians — the  Onan,  the 
Alikulufan,  and  the  Yahgan.  The  first  named  are 
believed  to  be  closely  related  to  their  neighbors,  the 
Patagonians  of  the  mainland.  The  other  two  fam- 
ilies make  canoes  of  bark  and  live  on  sea  products. 
Their  inventions,  aside  from  their  ingenious  canoes, 
are  not  of  a  high  order.  Since  the  days  of  Magellan, 
1520,  until  now,  they  have  been  spectators  of  Cau- 
casian activities,  yet  they  adhere  to  their  ancient 
forms  and  are  among  the  lowliest  of  the  tribes  now 
on  the  earth. 

In  the  Fuegian  barbed  harpoons  the  transition 
from  the  spear  is  immediate,  for  it  is  only  a  matter 
of  a  short  piece  of  sinew  string  or  leather  thong 
uniting  the  head  with  the  shaft.  If  the  barbed  head 
of  bone  be  firmly  fixed  in  the  split  end  of  the  shaft, 
the  implement  is  a  spear;  if  the  barbed  head  fit 
loosely  by  its  butt  into  a  socket  or,  what  is  really 
the  case,  into  the  riven  end  of  the  shaft,  and  is 
joined  to  the  shaft  b}^  a  short  cord  or  thong,  as  is 
shown  in  fig.  12  (Cat.  No.  79091,  U.S.N.M.),  the 
implement  is  the  most  primitive  of  harpoons.  The 
transition  is  not  only  immediate  but  easy.  When 
the  end  of  the  shaft  is  merely  split  to  hold  the  tang 
of  the  long  bone  spearhead,  it  is  impossible  to  make 
a  rigid  joint  by  any  amount  of  wrapping. 

In  the  examples  studied  for  this  paragraph,  col- 
lected by  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  steamer  Alba- 
tross, the  spearheads  have  many  serrate  barbs  on  one 
edge  of  the  blade,  and  the  tangs,  instead  of  being 
smooth  and  tapering,  are  roughly  notched  to  prevent 
the  head  from  being  drawn  out  of  the  end  of  the 
shaft  (Plate  2).  In  like  manner  the  harpoon  heads  of 
bone  have  tapering  points  of  greater  or  less  length, 
with  two  large  barbs,  one  on  each  side,  or  one  barb 
projecting  near  the  base.  In  spears  the  tang  is  not 
fitted  neatly  into  a  socket  at  the  end  of  the  shaft, 
but  the  latter  is  merely  split  and  bound  with  sinew 
or  thong;  but  the  open  socket  for  the  harpoon  head  is  wrought  with 


Fig.  12. 
FUEGIAN     BARBED 

HARPOON. 

Collected  by  Thomas  and 
Leslie  Lee.  Cat.  No. 
79091.  U.S.N.M. 


214  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

more  care.  The  Fuegian  harpoon  is  thrust  with  both  hands  or  thrown. 
It  has  no  hand  rest  on  the  shaft  to  make  the  blow  more  effective,  nor 
did  these  natives  have  knowledge  of  the  harpoon  arrow  or  the  throwing 
stick,  a  device  prevalent  in  many  other  parts  of  America  for  propelling 
the  harpoon.  The  shaft  as  now  seen  is  a  creditable  part  of  the  imple- 
ment, being  often  12  feet  long  and  cut  out  with  eight  sides  rather  than 
round.  The  thong  also  is  carefully  knotted  to  the  shaft  a  few  feet 
from  the  barbed  head,  its  length  nicely  adjusted  to  the  setting  of  the 
harpoon  for  action. 

Chilean  type. — On  the  Atlantic  slope  from  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Negro,  the  bow  and  arrow  (formerly),  the 
long-handled  spear,  but,  more  than  all  others,  the  different  varieties 
of  bolas,  were  the  hunting  implements.  To  find  the  harpoon  it  will 
be  necessary  to  cross  the  Cordilleras  and  visit  the  archipelagos  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  Here  amidst  the  greatest  abundance,  having  little  con- 
tact with  Europeans,  the  tribes  of  Aucanian  and  those  of  unknown 
affinities  plied  a  harpoon  not  much  in  advance  of  those  of  Fuegia  (fig. 
13  C).  It  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  good  North  American  arrow, 
chipped  head,  foreshaft,  lashing  crossed  over  the  barbs  of  the  head, 
and  conical  base  for  making  a  joint  with  the  shaft. 

Fig.  13,  A  and  B  represent  barbed  harpoon  heads  in  the  U.  S. 
National  Museum  from  Arica,  Peru.  The  heads  are  of  chipped  stone 
set  by  a  tang  into  a  socket  in  the  end  of  its  foreshaft  or  tang  and  bound 
with  fine  string.  The  column  of  the  foreshaft  is  cylindrical,  terminating 
below  in  a  bulb,  which  serves  both  to  hold  the  connecting  line  and  to 
make  a  loose  joint  with  the  shaft. 

In  the  Blake  collections,  Peabody  Museum,  is  a  similar  barbed  har- 
poon from  Chacota,  Peru,  with  point  or  blade  of  stone,  tang  of  wood, 
and  with  conical  butt  end  to  fit  in  a  socket.1  Comparing  these  exam- 
ples with  the  Fuegian  type,  the  great  advantage  which  one  people  may 
have  over  another  caused  by  differences  of  material  is  apparent.  The 
Fuegian,  in  order  to  join  the  head  with  the  shaft  of  the  harpoon, 
knows  nothing  better  than  to  split  the  front  of  the  handle  and  make 
the  joining  as  secure  as  possible  by  lashing  with  rawhide,  or  sinew 
cord,  which  shrinks  in  drying.  Soon,  however,  this  becomes  loose 
again,  and  makes  it  necessary  to  repeat  the  process  of  fastening.  It 
is  a  poor  joint  at  best.  As  soon  as  the  fisherman,  coming  northward, 
discovers  the  tough  and  straight  cane,  a  new  device  is  possible,  and  a 
better  joint.  Indeed,  nature  bpres  the  hole  regular  in  form  for  the 
butt  end  of  the  harpoon  head.  By  cutting  the  stem  of  the  cane  just 
above  the  joint  an  ideal  socket  is  effected.  When  the  harpoon  head 
is  set  securely  into  this  socket  and  the  outside  wrapped  with  stout 
thread,  the  best  of  joints  is  effected.  The  butt  end  of  all  South  Ameri- 

1  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  p.  290,  fig.  15. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


215 


can  harpoons,  within  the  area  of  the  cane,  belong  to  the  type  here 
shown  regardless  of  tribe  or  location. 

In  Stubel,  Reiss,  and  Koppel   Kultur  und  Industrie  Sudamerikani- 


'/ 


ABODE 

Fig.  13. 

BARBED  HAKPOON  HEADS. 

Chile  and  Peru. 
A-C,  Cat.  Nos.  136850a  and  b,  U.S.N.M. ;  D,  Peabody  Museum ;  E,  Charles  Read. 

scher  Volker,  is  figured  a  harpoon  from  Arica,  Peru.  It  consists  of  a 
head  of  syenite  and  a  tang  of  wood.  The  stone  head  is  barbed  and 
the  tang  of  wood  is  fastened  with  a  seizing  of  woolen  cord.  At  the 


216  REPOET    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 

lower  end  of  the  wooden  tang  there  is  a  projection  for  a  cord  which 
fastened  the  head  to  the  upper  end  of  a  shaft  or  reed  cane.  The  lower 
end  of  the  tang  is  conical,  to  fit  into  the  end  of  the  cane.  There  is  a 
rudeness  about  the  Peruvian  and  Chilean  harpoon  heads  worthy  of 
attention.  The  better  classes  of  this  ancient  people  were  skillful  in 
many  arts.  There  is  in  these  appliances  of  capture,  therefore,  evidence 
of  a  humble  fishing  caste,  or  of  a  tribe  not  identical  with  Aymaras 
and  Kechuas.  The  spirit  of  invention  was  not  entirety  wanting  in 
this  area,  however,  as  D  and  E,  fig.  13,  show.  The  last  named  is  taken 
from  Charles  Read's  paper  in  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological 
Institute  (volume  xix,  page  60).  Side  barbs  are  set  on  the  side  of  the 
wooden  tang  of  the  head,  partly  let  in,  partly  cemented,  and  in  one 
example  served.  All  the  elements  here  rudely  put  together  will  again 
appear  on  this  same  Pacific  coast  at  its  northern  extremity  in  their 
latest  elaboration. 

In  the  Hassler  collection  of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum  are  barbed 
harpoons  from  southern  Brazil.  The  bone  of  an  animal  forms  the  point 
and  a  barbed  piece  of  hard  wood  the  tang  of  the  head,  which  is  attached 
by  a  short  piece  of  rope  to  the  end  of  the  long  shaft.  In  some  exam- 
ples the  bone  is  socketed  and  set  on  the  end  of  the  tang;  in  others  a 
spindle-shaped  bone  is  lashed  diagonally  to  the  beveled  end  of  the  tang. 
Attention  is  here  specially  invited  to  the  bone  which  forms  the  body 
and  blade  of  this  head,  because  it  is  an  ideal,  if  not  the  real,  beginning 
of  all  toggle  heads  of  harpoons.  A  short  piece  of  bone,  conical  in 
form,  is  cut  out  so  as  to  be  sharp  in  front  and  cup-shaped  in  the  rear. 
If  this  is  set  on  the  end  of  a  hard  wood  foreshaft  and  driven  into  the 
body  of  a  fish  or  other  animal  it  remains  there  and  rankles.  The  arrow 
shaft  is  withdrawn,  but  if  the  bone  be  tied  to  the  shaft  it  becomes  a 
retriever.  It  toggles  in  the  body  of  the  game.  The  attachment  of 
spurs  at  the  base  of  this  head  brings  about  the  made-up  toggle  head  of 
the  north  Pacific  coast. 

The  turtle  harpoon  arrow  in  the  Solimoens,  Brazil,  has  a  lancet- 
shaped  point  of  steel  fitted  into  a  peg,  which  enters  the  tip  of  the 
shaft.  This  head  is  secured  to  the  shaft  by  a  twine  of  pineapple 
fiber,  30  to  40  yards  long  and  neatly  wound  around  the  shaft.  When 
the  blade  enters  the  shell  the  head  of  the  arrow  pulls  out  and  the  ani- 
mal dives  to  the  bottom,  leaving  the  shaft  floating.  The  Indian,  on 
perceiving  a  movement  in  the  water,  shoots  his  arrow  into  the  air  and 
it  never  fails  to  pierce  the  shell  of  the  submerged  animal. 1 

The  Amazon  Indians  hunt  the  manatee  for  food  in  small  canoes  and 
kill  it  with  harpoons,  the  blades  of  which  are  made  of  shells.3 

The  Upper  Shingu  tribes  hunted  and  fished  with  bow  and  arrow, 
though  fishing  was  sparingly  done  in  this  way.  The  harpoon  arrows 

1  Bates,  On  the  Amazons,  1875,  p.  293. 

*Acufia,  New  Discovery,  Hakluyt,  No.  24,  1859,  p.  69;  Bates,  loe.  cit.,  1875,  p.  245. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  3. 


HARPOON  ARROW  AND  SHEATH,  VENEZUELA. 
Museum  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


217 


of  the  Bororo  Indians  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Paraguay  River^  in 
southwestern  Brazil,  are  used  for  capturing  alligators  and  large  fish. 
The  shaft  is  of  the  Uba  reed,  and  at  the  butt  end  has  two  whole  feath- 
ers laid  on  flat.  The  head  consists  of  a  shaft  of  hard  wood  about  2  feet 
long,  to  which  are  fastened  the  point  and  barb,  made 
of  a  piece  of  bone  or  very  hard  wood,  sharpened  at 
both  ends,  and  laid  on  the  top  of  the  foreshaft  diag- 
onally so  as  to  form  the  piercing  portion  in  front 
and  the  hook  in  the  rear.  The  barb  is  lashed  on  to 
the  foreshaft  by  means  of  a  twined  string,  the  other 
end  of  which  is  attached  to  the  shaft,  so  that  when 
the  head  is  drawn  out  the  shaft  itself  serves  as  a  buoy. 
For  about  2  feet  the  outer  end  of  the  reed  shaft  is 
wrapped  with  the  same  cord  that  connects  the  reed 
with  the  shaft.  The  inner  end  of  the  foreshaft  fits 
into  the  hole  of  the  reed  (fig.  14).  Length  of  this 
.spear,  6  feet.  It  is  pictured  in  Von  den  Steinen,  1894, 
page  484.  Among  the  Bororo  (Tupian  family)  is  to 
be  found  a  modification  of  this  type  of  harpoon  in 
which  the  shaft  is  not  fastened  to  the  line  but  held  in 
the  hand  of  the  fisherman,  who  dives  after  his  game. 
A  harpoon  arrow  of  the  Venezuelan  Indians  is 
shown  in  Plate  3.  The  specimen  is  in  the  museum 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  The  shaft  is  of 
reed,  without  a  joint.  At  the  shaftment  there  are 
two  half  feathers  set  on  radially  and  held  in  place  by 
wrappings  of  black  and  white  thread  in  alternate 
ba'nds.  In  a  few  places  the  thread  passes  over  the 
shaft  of  the  quill,  and  elsewhere  the  bands  of  thread 
do  not  touch  the  feather  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  lashing.  At  the  nock,  a  ball-like  projection 
is  formed  by  the  wrapping  of  thread.  A  piece  of 
hard  wood  is  inserted  in  the  notch  to  fit  through  the 
bowstring.  At  the  front  end  of  the  shaft  a  similar 
object  is  wrapped  around  the  end  to  strengthen  the 
socket  of  the  foreshaft,  which  is  a  reed  of  black  palm 
about  8  inches  in  length,  sharpened  at  its  lower  end, 
and  driven  into  the  reed.  It  tapers  gradually 
toward  the  fore  end,  where  it  fits  into  the  head. 
The  head  consists  of  a  barbed  point  of  iron  and 
a  socket  piece  or  a  shank  of  wood,  into  which  the  iron  is  fitted. 
At  the  base  of  this  shank  is  a  short  wrapping  of  twine,  mixed 
with  gum,  resembling  a  turk's-head  knot.  This  acts  as  a  stop  to  the 
lino.  The  same  wrapping  extends  from  the  line  outward  nearly  to  the 
barb  on  the  point.  The  harpoon  line,  which  is  10  feet  in  length,  is 


Fig.  14. 

HARPOON  ARROW. 

Bororo  Indians,  Brazil. 
After  Von  den  Steinen. 


NAT   MUS    190 


218  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

tied  around  the  head  at  one  end  and  at  the  top  of  the  shaft  at  the  other 
end.  When  this  weapon  is  set  ready  for  action,  the  barbed  head  is 
placed  on  the  end  of  the  foreshaft.  The  line  having  been  wrapped 
neatly  around  the  top  of  the  shaft,  almost  to  its  end,  a  loop  or  slip-knot 
is  formed  at  the  last  turn,  and  drawn  tight.  When  the  game  is  struck, 
the  head  is  withdrawn,  the  slip-knot  untied,  the  line  unwound,  and  the 
heavy  portion  of  the  shaft  drops  into  the  water,  the  feather  projects 
into  the  air,  and  the  apparatus  acts  both  as  a  drag  and  as  a  signal. 
Excepting  the  iron  point,  which  might  easily  be  replaced  by  one  of 
bone,  the  whole  apparatus  is  aboriginal,  and  the  wide  prevalence  of 
this  particular  combination  of  parts  leads  to  the  belief  that  we  have 
here  an  early  and  unchanged  American  harpoon  arrow.  It  is  interest- 
ing also  from  the  point  of  view  before  mentioned,  that  it  is  a  step  in 
the  progress  of  the  toggle  head.  If  a  Columbia  River  Indian  were  to 
fasten  a  spur  on  the  end  of  the  cup-shaped  socket,  the  combined  barbed 
and  toggle  heads,  to  be  more  fully  illustrated  and  described,  would 
be  realized.  This  form  of  harpoon  head,  in  which  the  socket  is  on  the 
movable  part  instead  of  being  in  the  end  of  the  shaft,  is  quite  well 
diffused  in  the  Amazon  drainage  and  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  is  not 
found  in  the  shell  heaps  or  mounds  of  eastern  United  States,  but  is 
common  in  western  Canada  and  universal  among  the  Eskimo. 

The  harpoon  arrows  of  the  tribes  in  British  Guiana  are  used  for 
shooting  fish,  pacu  (Pacu  myletes),  which  abound  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  according  to  Im  Thurn,  in  most  of  the  large  rivers  of  Guiana. 
When  the  river  is  high  and  the  water  is  turbid  with  rain  the  pacu 
are  distributed  equally  in  all  parts  of  the  stream  and  are  almost  invis- 
ible. When,  however,  in  the  dry  season,  the  river  is  low  and  the 
water  clear,  when  the  rocks  which  form  the  rapids  are  partially 
uncovered,  and  the  "pacu  grass,"  a  small  water  plant  (Lads),  which 
clothes  these  rocks,  comes  into  flower,  then  the  pacu  collect  at  the 
falls  to  feed  on  the  leaves.  Large  numbers  of  Indians  then  camp  at 
the  sides  of  the  falls  to  shoot  these  fish.  Such  a  scene  is  highly  pic- 
turesque. The  place  is  generally  a  wide  extent  of  river  bed,  apparently 
inclosed  by  the  forested  banks,  and  entirely  occupied  by  a  curious 
confusion  of  rocks  and  white,  rushing  water.  On  a  rock  in  the  midst 
of,  and  almost  covered  by  the  tumbling  water,  stands  an  Indian,  his 
feet  crushing  the  delicate,  star  shaped,  pink  flowers  of  the  lacis,  and 
every  muscle  in  his  naked,  cinnamon-colored  body  bearing  witness  to 
the  intensity  of  his  watch.  His  bow  is  half  drawn,  the  arrow  is  in 
position,  but  its  point  rests  idly  on  the  rocks.  The  water  is  rushing 
and  tumbling  so  wildly  that  an  unpracticed  eye  can  see  nothing  below 
its  surface.  But  the  Indian  sees.  Quickly  the  bow  is  raised,  the  aim 
is  taken,  the  arrow  flies,  and  its  shaft  is  there,  dancing  and  tumbling 
in  the  water,  carried  here  and  there  by  the  terrified  rusnes  of  an 
unseen  pacu.  in  the  body  of  which  the  arrowhead  is  embedded.  But 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  219 

the  line  not  only  connects  arrowhead  and  arrow  shaft,  but  its  other 
end  is  held  firmly  in  the  hands  of  the  Indian,  who  now  easily  hauls 
the  fish  on  to  the  rock.  Sometimes,  instead  of  waiting  on  a  rock,  in 
his  eagerness  he  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  almost  overwhelming  rush 
of  the  water,  stooping,  the  better  to  resist  its  force.  In  either  case, 
if  he  is  skillful,  he 'gets  a  large  number  of  fish.  Im  Thurn  saw  15 
pacu,  averaging  about  7  or  8  pounds  in  weight,  shot  by  one  man  in 
twenty  minutes.  When  enough  have  been  taken  the  Indian  loads 
his  canoe  and  returns  to  his  temporary  camp.  The  fish  are  then  cut 
open  and  cleaned,  their  sides  are  slit  again  and  again,  salt  is  rubbed 
in,  and  they  are  put  on  the  rocks  to  dry  in  the  sun. 

It  is  not,  however,  only  in  the  falls  that  the  Indian  shoots  fish,  though 
he  rarely  gets  pacu  elsewhere.  In  .the  smooth  reaches  of  the  river  he 
shoots  others  of  various  kinds.  Indeed,  he  can  almost  always  and  every- 
where find  fish  to  shoot,  and  he  seldom  fails  to  hit  them  when  they  are 
once  seen.  When  the  water  is  smooth  two  other  fish  arrows  are  used. 
Of  these  one l  differs  from  the  harpoon  before  mentioned  in  that  a 
short  line  connects  only  the  head — which  in  this  case  also  is  slipped 
on  to  the  shaft — and  the  shaft,  instead  of  being  carried  on  the  arm  of 
the  shooter.  The  struggles  of  the  fish  when  hit  immediately  cause 
the  shaft  to  slip  out  of  the  head,  and  the  former,  which  is  very  long 
and  light,  floats  on  the  top  of  the  water,  but  remains  connected  with 
the  fish  by  the  line,  and  so  serves  as  a  buoy  and  marks  the  position  of 
the  fish.2 

NORTH   AMERICAN   HARPOONS. 

Between  the  northern  and  the  southern  continents  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  the  mode  of  communication  was  by  land  or  by  water. 
By  land  the  dividing  line  between  North  and  South  America  was  very 
near  the  route  of  the  projected  Nicaraguan  Canal.  The  gold-working 
Chibchas  of  British  Columbia  had  as  their  northern  boundary  the  San 
Juan  River.  By  water  there  was  no  partition  between  the  continents. 
The  Caribian  and  the  Arawakan  tribes  encountered  by  Spanish  explor- 
ers all  about  the  Caribbean  Sea  were  also  found  away  southward  in  the 
Orinoco  drainage  and  farther.  There  will  be  no  surprise,  therefore, 
on  finding  the  same  devices  of  capture  widely  distributed.  The  same 
animal  will  be  killed  in  many-  places  with  similar  harpoons,  because 
in  the  struggle  for  survival  among  weapons  this  or  that  form  proved 
the  fittest;  also  because  of  that  subtle,  imaginary  kinship  between  men 
and  animals  of  prey  which  encourages  the  man  to  follow  animals  of 
particular  species.  The  barbed  head,  with  tang  fitting  into  a  socket  at 
the  end  of  the  shaft,  and  the  socketed  head,  whose  cup-shaped  base  fits 
on  to  a  pointed  foreshaft,  continue  to  exist  with  little  change  until 

1  Im  Thurn,  Among  the  Indians  of  British  Guiana,  1883,  p.  235,  fig.  96. 

2  Idem.,  pp.  235-237. 


220  REPOKT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

California  is  reached.     The  barbed  harpoon  head  with  cup-shaped  base 
there  takes  on  spurs  and  becomes  a  toggle  head  without  barbs. 

Of  harpoons  on  the  Mosquito  coast  of  Nicaragua  and  Honduras 
Squier  says: 

The  women  were  left  on  the  beach  and  three  men  apportioned  to  each  boat — a  pad- 
dler,  a  torch  bearer,  and  a  striker.  Torches  made  of  pine  splinters;  spears  of  two 
kinds — one  (sinnock)  fixed  by  a  shank  at  the  end  of  along,  light  pole  and  kept  in  the 
hand;  the  other  (waisko-dusa)  shorter,  staff  hollow,  iron-barbed  head,  fastened  to 
a  line  passing  through  rings  by  the  side  of  the  shaft,  wound  to  a  light  wood  float. 
When  thrown  the  head  remains  in  the  fish,  the  line  unwinds,  the  float  rises  to  the 
surface  to  be  seized  by  the  fisherman,  who  hauls  in  his  fish  at  leisure.1 

The  same  author  says  that  the  Mosquito  Indians  capture  thousands 
of  turtles  with  harpoons. 

The  Ulva  Indians,  of  Bluefields  Lagoon,  pursue  the  manatee.  One 
man  sits  in  the  stern  of  a  flat-bottomed  dugout  (pitpan)  to  steer,  one 
crouches  in  the  bow  with  a  harpoon,  the  rest  kneel  on  the  bottom, 
lances  in  hand.  The  boat  is  covered  with  boughs  to  resemble  floating 
trees.  The  man  at  the  bow  launches  his  harpoon,  the  animal  makes 
a  plunge,  the  boughs  are  thrown  overboard,  and  the  lance  men  make 
ready.  The  bowsman  gradually  hauls  in  his  line  and  the  animal,  after 
some  maneuvering,  comes  to  the  surface,  where  it  is  stabbed  with  a 
lance.  After  a  series  of  struggles  it  is  secured.2  These  processes  of 
paddling,  harpooning,  throwing  the  boughs  overboard,  hauling  in  the 
line,  and  stabbing  with  the  lance  may  be  carefully  noted,  in  prospect 
of  coming  descriptions  relating  to  harpoon  work  by  the  Eskimo. 

Clavigero  describes  the  Mexican  tlacochtli  or  dart,  a  small  lance  of 
otalli  or  some  other  strqng  wood,  the  point  of  which  was  hardened  by 
fire  or  shod  with  copper,  or  itzli,  or  bone,  and  many  of  them  had  three 
points.  The  Mexicans  fixed  a  string  to  their  darts  in  order  to  pull 
them  back  again.  This  weapon  was  especially  dreaded  by  the  Span- 
iards.3 The  line  affixed  to  the  darts  is  a  harpoon  characteristic.  The 
three-pronged  barbed  harpoon  head  is  also  to  be  seen  on  Lake  Patz- 
cuaro  at  present. 

A  turtle  harpoon  *  of  the  Seri  Indians  of  Tiburon  Island,  in  the  Gulf 
of  California  and  the  mainland  adjoining,  is  shown  in  fig.  15.  It  com- 
prises a  point  3  or  4  inches  long,  made  from  a  nail  or  bit  of  stout  wire, 
rudely  sharpened  by  hammering  the  tip  (cold)  between  cobbles,  and 
dislodging  the  loosened  scales  and  splinters  by  thrusts  and  twiiiings 
in  the  ground;  this  is  set  firmly  and  cemented  with  mesquite  gum  into 
a  foreshaft  of  hard  wood,  usually  4  or  5  inches  long,  notched  to  receive 
a  cord  and  rounded  at  the  inner  end.  This  rounded  end  fits  into  a 
socket  of  the  main  shaft,  which  may  be  either  a  cane  stalk  or  a  section 

1  E.  G.  Squier,  Mosquito  Shore,  London,  1856,  p.  74. 

2 Idem.,  p.  104. 

3  History  of  Mexico,  II,  Philadelphia,  1817,  p.  166. 

4W  J  McGee,  Seventeenth  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  (1898),  p.  187. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  221 

of  mesquite  root,  while  a  stout  cord  is  firmly  knotted  about  the  tang 
of  the  head  and  either  attached  to  the  outer  end  of  the  main  shaft  or 
carried  in  the  hand  of  the  user.  The  shaft  is  usually  10  or  12  feet 
long,  with  the  socket  in  the  larger  end,  and  is  manipulated  by  a  fisher- 
man sitting  or  standing  on  his  balsa.  On  catching  sight  of  a  turtle 
lying  in  the  water,  he  approaches  stealthily,  preferably  from  the  rear, 
yet  in  such  wise  as  not  to  cast  a  frightening  shadow,  sets  the  foreshaft 
in  place,  guides  the  point  close  to  the  victim,  and  then  b}^  a  quick 
thrust  drives  the  metal  through  the  shell.  The  resistance  between  the 
turtle  shell  and  the  metal  holds  the  point  in  place,  and  although  the 
head  is  jerked  out  at  the  first  movement  of  the  animal,  the  cord  pre- 
vents escape;  and  after  partial  tiring,  the  turtle  is  either  drowned  or 
driven  ashore,  or  else  lifted  on  the  craft.  Dr.  McGee  quotes  the  fol- 
lowing minute  account  of  Seri  tuftle  capture: l 

An  Indian  paddles  himself  from  the  shore  on  one  of  these  by  means  of  a  long 
elastic  pole  of  about  12  or  14  feet  in  length,  the  wood  of  which  is  the  root  of  a  thorn 
called  mesquite,  growing  near  the  coast;  and  although  the  branches  of  this  tree  are 
extremely  brittle,  the  underground  roots  are  as  pliable  as  whalebone  and  nearly  as 
dark  in  color.  At  one  end  of  this  pole  there  is  a  hole  an  inch  deep,  into  which  is 
inserted  another  bit  of  wood  in  shape  like  an  acorn,  having  a  square  bit  of  iron  4 
inches  long  fastened  to  it,  the  other  end  of  the  tree  being  pointed.  Both  the  ball 
and  cup  are  first  moistened  and  then  tightly  inserted  one  within  the  other.  Fastened 
to  the  iron  is  a  cord  of  very  considerable  length,  which  is  brought  up  along  the  pole, 
and  both  are  held  in  the  left  hand  of  the  Indian.  So  securely  is  the  nail  thus  fixed 
in  the  pole  that  although  the  latter  is  used  as  a  paddle  it  does  not  fall  out. 

A  turtle  is  a  very  lethargic  animal,  and  may  frequently  be  surprised  in  its  watery 
slumbers.  The  balsa  is  placed  nearly  perpendicularly  over  one  of  these  unsuspect- 
ing sleepers,  when  the  fisherman,  softly  sliding  the  pole  through  the  water  in  the 
direction  of  the  animal  till  within  a  foot  or  two  of  it,  suddenly  plunges  the  iron  into 
its  back.  No  sooner  does  the  creature  feel  itself  transfixed  than  it  swims  hastily 
forward  and  endeavors  to  liberate  itself.  The  slightest  motion  of  the  turtle  displaces 
the  iron  point  from  the  long  pole,  which  would  otherwise  be  inevitably  broken  and 
the  turtle  would  as  certainly  be  lost;  but  in  the  manner  here  described.it  is  held  by 
the  cord  fastened  on  to  the  iron  which  has  penetrated  its  back,  till,  after  it  has  suffi- 
ciently exhausted  its  strength,  it  is  hoisted  on  board  the  canoe  by  the  fisherman,  who 
proceeds  to  the  shore  in  order  to  dispose  of  his  prize. 

A  barbed  head,  with  wooden  shaft,  together  forming  a  turtle  spear- 
head, is  shown  in  fig.  16,  by  McGee  (1898,  p.  193). 

The  only  approach  to  the  harpoon  type  in  all  the  Pueblo  region  is 
an  insignificant  apparatus  for  capturing  vermin.  But  the  cliff  dwell- 
ers had  the  throwing  stick,  and  a  spear  with  a  head  of  stone  set  on  a 
tang  of  wood  conical  at  its  inner  end,  like  so  many  found  in  Peru 
and  Chile.  The  Yokut  Indians  (Mariposan  family)  on  Tulare  Lake, 
California,  are  said  by  Powers  to  erect  brushwood  shelters  over  the 
water,  in  which  the  Indian  lies  flat  on  his  belly  peering  down  through 
a  hole.2  When  a  fish  passes  under,  he  strikes  it  with  his  two-pronged 

1  Hardy's  Travels,  1829,  p.  296. 

2  Stephen  Powers,  Tribes  of  California,  1877,  p.  376. 


222 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


harpoon  (1877,  p.  376).  No  other  region  in  America  illustrates  more 
aptly  what  has  been  previoushr  said  about  the  dependence  of  culture- 
progress  on  the  bounty  of  nature.  The  Tulare  women  are  among 
the  most  skillful  basket  makers  in  the  world,  and  their  ware  is  sought 
far  and  wide.  The  material  is  at  hand.  But  the  Tulare  men  have 
reduced  the  harpoon  to  its  lowest  terms,  for  two  reasons — the  animals 

requiring  a  better  perfected  implement  are 
not  at  hand,  and  the  materials  for  con- 
structing the  weapon  are  not  forthcoming. 
The  Indians  of  the  Sacramento  Valley, 
in  California,  not  being  subjected  to  the 
prohibition  of  the  game  laws,  are  allowed 
to  capture  game  at  any  season  of  the  year, 
and  when  the  salmon  are  in  the  river  to 
spawn  they  take  them  by  means  of  toggle 
harpoons,  one  of  which  is  nearly  25  feet  in 
length. 

The  Sacramento  near  its  head  is  very 
swift,  and  in  its  passage  across  different 
ledges  of  various  degrees  of  softness  exca- 
vates large  pools  or  holes  in  its  bed,  each 
having  a  small  fall,  and  there  is  a  rapid 
beyond.  The  water  in  these  holes,  which 
are  often  very  large,  is  comparatively  still, 
and  they  make  welcome  resting  places  for 
the  tired  salmon  before  they  attempt  the 
passage  of  the  rapid  above.  The  water  is 
beautifully  cold  and  clear,  and  the  fish  can 
be  seen  crowding  together  on  the  bottom. 
The  Indians  repair  to  one  of  these  holes  to 
the  number  of  twenty  or  more.  Some  sta- 
tion themselves  at  the  rapids  above  and 
below;  others  wade  out  to  an  isolated  rock, 
or  a  log  projecting  into  the  stream.  All 
hold  their  harpoons  in  readiness,  and  at  a 
signal  from  the  leader  strike.  At  the  first 
onslaught  each  manages  to  secure  a  fish, 
which  is  detached  from  the  harpoon  head 

and  thrown  on  the  bank.  The  harpoons,  having  toggles  of  steel  which 
become  detached  from  the  stock  when  they  enter  the  fish,  and  being 
attached  to  the  shaft  by  cords,  turn  flat  against  the  fish's  side  and  make 
escape-  impossible  when  the  salmon  is  pierced  through.  Sometimes 
three  or  four  hundred  are  thus  harpooned  from  one  pool. l  The  Wintun 

1Hallock,  Forest  and  Stream,  VI,  June  1,  1876. 


Fig.  15. 

TURTLE  HARPOON. 

Seri  Indians. 

Collections  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 
After  W  J  McGee. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


223 


Indian  ties  two  poles,  together  near  one  end,  sets  them  in  deep  water 
near  the  shore,  the  bottoms  a  few  feet  apart;  on  this  he  sets  a  log,  one 
end  resting  on  the  shore.  From  this  fishing  station  he  harpoons  the 
black-backed  salmon.  The  shaft  is  often  15  feet  long;  the  head,  a 
joint  of  deer's  bone,  is  3  inches  long,  with  socket  to  fit 
on  the  end  of  the  foreshaft  and  line  tied  about  its  mid- 
dle. This  head  is  driven  quite  through  the  fish  and 
toggles  on  the  other  side.  The  reader  can  not  fail  to 
recall  the  toggle  heads  of  bone  in  the  heart  of  Brazil-. 
The  Yurok  also  spear  salmon  from  booths  with  tog- 
gle harpoons.1  The  Wintuns  be- 
long to  Powell's  Copehan  family. 
They  are  skillful  arrow  makers 
and  their  women  dainty  weavers 
of  twined  basketry.  But  the 
abundance  of  the  game  as  well  as 
its  accessibility  have  acted  here, 
as  in  all  other  places,  to  deter  the 
inventive  faculty.  The  thrusting 
of  a  toggle  quite  through  a  fish 
was  indeed  an  effective  mode  of 
capture,  but  it  did  little  to  elevate 
the  mind  of  the  captor. 

The  head  of  the  harpoon  used 
by  the  Nacum  Indians  of  Califor- 
nia was  made  of  deer's  horn  and 
was  about  2  inches  long,  with  a 
socket  on  one  side  that  fitted  into 
the  pole.  When  a  fish  was  struck 
the  point  left  the  pole,  to  which  it 
was  attached  by  a  sinew  a  foot  or 
more  long.  It  has  been  observed 
that  the  toggle  harpoon  so  well 
known  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States 
north  of  San  Francisco,  as  well  as  British  Colum- 
bia and  Alaska,  made  no  advances  as  an  inven- 
tion. The  Nacum  Indians  are  too  far  inland  to 
have  had  the  stimulus  for  improving  an  appara- 
tu  which  demands  sea  room  for  development. 
The  Hupa  and  Humboldt  Bay  Indians  con- 
struct the  toggle  heads  of  their  salmon  harpoons  as  follows:  A  point 
of  antler,  bone,  or  metal  from  2£  to  3£  inches  in  length,  more  or  less 
flattened  and  sharp  at  the  tips,  is  armed  at  its  lower  extremity  with 

1  Stephen  Powers,  Tribes  of  California,  1877.     See  his  index,  under  fishing. 


Fig.  16. 

BARBED    HARPOON 
HEAD. 

Seri  Indians. 
Collections    of    the 
Bureau  of  Ethnol- 
ogy. 
After  W  J  McGee. 


Fig.  17. 

TOGGLE  HARPOON. 

Hupa  Indians,  California. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray.    Cat.  No. 

126525,  U.S.N.M. 


224  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

two  barbs  laid  alongside,  lashed  down,  and  covered  with  pitch. 
17.)  In  the  same  lashing  is  included  one  end  of  the  leader,  a  short 
strap  of  deer  rawhide.  Into  a  slit  at  the  other  end  is  spliced  the  line, 
a  piece  of  rope  from  1  to  3  feet  long,  attached  at  its  opposite  end  to 
the  side  of  the  shaft.  Some  spears  have  two  or  more  prongs,  each 
armed  with  one  of  these  toggle  heads.  When  the  fish  is  struck  its 
struggles  detach  the  toggle  head  and  it  is  retrieved  by  means  of  the 
line  and  pole.  Toggle  heads  of  similar  type  are  in  use  among  all  the 
salmon-eating  Indians  of  northwest  California.1 

In  the  figure  shown  will  be  seen  the  transition  of  the  rankling  arrow 
head  of  South  America  into  a  toggle  head.  There  must  be  point,  barbs, 
or  spurs,  line  attached  between  ends,  and  socket  in  every  harpoon. 
In  this  noteworthy  type  the  point  and  the  flukes  or  barbs  are  separate, 
and  the  socket  is  ingeniously  effected  by  the  combination  of  point, 
spurs,  and  rawhide  leader. 

The  spring  salmon,  sa}^s  Gibbs,  are  taken  on  the  rivers  Sacramento, 
Klamath,  Columbia,  and  Kwinaiutl  with  a  harpoon,  the  points  or 
barbs  attached  loosely  by  a  thong,  so  as  to  give  play  to  the  fish.  On 
some  of  the  rivers,  where  the  depth  permits,  weirs  are  built  to  stop 
their  ascent.2 

The  relationship  of  weirs,  dams,  and  stops  of  various  kinds  with  the 
harpoon  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  since  the  California 
and  Oregon  tribes,  barred  out  from  ocean  fishing  by  absence  of  archi- 
pelagoes, were  compelled  to  invent  equivalents.  The  old-time  harpoon 
was  even  then  adequate,  but  engineering  schemes  were  stimulated  and 
so  the  intellect  was  quickened.  The  cooperative  results  in  dam  build- 
ing, strengthening  as  they  did  the  social  tie,  are  not  to  be  despised. 
Indeed,  Powers,  who  knew  those  tribes  half  a  century  ago,  has  much 
to  say  about  their  manliness  and  resource,  both  in  fishing  and  hunting. 
The  same  will  be  found  true  not  only  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  United 
States  but  on  both  sides  of  South  America. 

It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  Pacific  Ocean  all  along  the 
Mexican  and  Californian  coast  was  no  friend  to  the  canoe.  Fishing 
was  done  inland.  The  coastal  plain,  indeed,  was  the  pasture  land  of 
vast  marine  herds  that  needed  no  shepherds,  but  at  the  proper  season 
they  rounded  themselves  up  and  proceeded  into  the  various  open 
streams  to  their  spawning  grounds,  where  they  were  slaughtered  with- 
out mercy  and  in  such  way  as  to  awaken  little  thought  in  the  minds  of 
their  captors. 

Cat.  No.  131358  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  barbed  head  of 
a  harpoon  from  the  Nal-tunne-tunne  Indians,  Oregon,  collected  by  Rev. 
J.  Owen  Dorsey ,  consisting  of  an  iron  arrow  head  with  long  sharp  barbs 
on  each  side  and  a  wooden  shank  barb  piece  having  two  unilateral 

1  Smithsonian  Report,  1886,  Pt.  I,  p.  224,  pi.  xix,  fig.  80. 

2  George  Gibbs,  Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology,  1877,  I,  p.  195. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


225 


flukes  (fig.  18).  On  this  wooden  shank,  the  butt  end  of  which  fits  loosely 
into  the  socket  of  the  shaft,  is  a  projection  to  hold  the  string  connecting 
head  and  shaft.  This  tribe  of  Indians  belong,  as  their  name  shows,  to 
the  Dene  or  Tinne  Indians,  whose  home  is  in  central  Alaska  and  the 
western  portion  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  This  Athapascan  family 
is  represented  on  the  Pacific  coast  also  by  the  Hupa,  Wailaki,  Saiaz, 
and  many  other  tribes  given  by  Powell  (1891,  p.  55).  The  time  of 
their  migration  is  not  known,  but  extensive  movements  have  taken 
place  since  the  coming  of  the  whites.  They  have  added  nothing  to 
the  inventions  of  the  locality.  The  barbed  harpoon 
blade,  with  barbs  also  on  its  shank,  is  widespread. 

Sixty  years  ago  Wilkes  described  harpooning  at  Walla 
Walla,  on  the  Columbia  River,  as  very  much  like  that 
at  Willamette  Falls,  except  there*  is  no  necesshy  for 
planks  to  stand  on.  The  Indians  use  hooks  and  spears 
attached  to  long  poles,  both  of  which  are  made  to 
unship  readily  and  are  attached  to  the  pole  by  a  line 
4  feet  below  its  upper  end.  If  the  hook  were  made 
permanently  fast  to  the  end  of  the  pole,  it  would  be 
liable  to  break  and  the  large  fish  more  difficult  to  take. 
The  Indians  are  seen  standing  along  the  walls  of  the 
canals  in  great  numbers  fishing.  It  is  not  uncommon 
for  them  to  take  twenty  or  twenty-five  salmon  in  an 
hour.1  Wilkes  brought  home  one  of  their  harpoon 
heads,  which  is  combined  barbed  and  toggle,  made  up 
as  follows:  The  head  is  of  iron,  triangular  in  shape, 
with  a  large  barb  on  one  side.  The  shank  is  set  in 
between  two  pieces  of  bone,  which  serve  three  pur- 
poses, namely,  to  hold  the  shank  firmly,  to  become  two 
spurs  at  their  outer  ends,  and  to  form  a  socket  for  the 
end  of  the  shaft  by  the  hollow  between  them.  The 
line  or  leader  is  laid  on  the  joint  between  them  and  the 
whole  lashed  securely  together  and  dipped  into  hot  pitch, 
of  many  strand  braid. 

One  of  the  oldest  pieces  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Cat.  No. 
1439,  collected  by  Lieutenant  Whipple,  is  of  similar  type,  only  there 
is  not  a  bit  of  iron  about  it.  So  far  as  its  materials  and  form  are  con- 
cerned, it  might  have  come  down  from  aboriginal  times.  The  blade  is 
of  bone,  having  two  large  flukes  or  barbs  on  one  side  cut  out.  In  this 
example  also  the  spurs  at  the  butt  end,  which  form  the  toggle,  are  of 
bone.  The  leader  joining  the  head  to  the  shaft  is  a  strap  of  rawhide. 
The  blade,  spurs,  and  line  or  leader  are  neatly  joined  together  with 
thread  and  pitch,  so  as  to  provide  a  socket  for  the  end  of  the  shaft. 

'    l  Charles  Wilkes,  Exploring  Expedition,  IV,  p.  384. 


\ 
Fig.  18. 

BARBED     HARPOON 
HEAD. 

Naltunne  Indians, 
Oregon. 

Collected  by  J.  Owen 
Dorsey.  Cat.  No- 
131,358,  U.S.N.M. 

The  line  is 


226  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

Those  who  understand  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  savage  artisan 
in  making  a  good  joint  will  appreciate  this  efficient  combination. 

The  Twana  Indians,  of  Washington  State,  make  one  kind  of  salmon 
hook  of  a  straight  piece  of  steel  about  6  inches  long,  and  sharp.  On 
each  side  of  it  pieces  of  bone  are  tied.  A  line  is  attached  and  also  a 
pole  15  or  20  feet  long,  in  such  a  way  that  by  means  of  the  pole  it  ma}^ 
be  driven  into  the  fish,  the  pole  drawn  out,  and  the  hook  remain,  held 
by  the  string,  when  it  is  drawn  in.1 

They  (the  Twana)  sometimes  use  harpoons  for  seal  fishing.  The 
point  is  of  iron,  and  the  spear  and  line  used  as  with  the  salmon  hook 
just  described.  - 

The  shaft  of  the  Quinaielt  salmon  harpoon  is  made  of  cedar,  the  fork 
of  the  wood  of  the  salmon  berry;  the  toggle  heads  of  wood  or  metal. 


Fig.  19. 

SALMON  SPEAR. 

Quinaielt  Indians,  Washington. 
Collected  by  C.  Willoughby. 

The  loop  of  cord,  which  is  16  feet  long,  is  for  the  left  hand.  The 
length  of  the  spear  is  nearly  16  feet.  This  spear  is  used  on  the  bar  of 
the  river  at  low  water.3  This  most  interesting  specimen  recalls  the 
heart  of  Brazil.  There  a  short  piece  of  monkey's  bone  was  pointed  in 
front,  while  nature  formed  the  socket  at  the  base  to  fit  over  the  fore- 
shaft.  In  the  Quinaielt  specimen  the  monkey  bone  is  replaced  by  a 
combination  of  bone  and  metal,  the  cup-shaped  cavity  at  the  base  fits 
also  over  the  foreshaf t,  but  a  short  line  or  leader  passes  from  the  mid- 
dle of  the  head  to  the  fore  end  of  the  shaft.  This  is  a  full-fledged 
toggle  harpoon  of  a  primitive  type  (fig.  19). 

The  Indians  of  Neah  Harbor,  says  Wilkes,  capture  the  whale  with  a 
buoy  made  of  a  seal's  skin,  which  is  blown  up  after  the  manner  of  blad- 
der, forming  a  large  oblong  float.  These  floats  are  4  feet  long  by  18 
inches  or  2  feet  in  diameter,  and  are  made  fast  by  a  rope  to  the  harpoon 
or  spear  which  is  thrown  at  the  whale,  and  becoming  fastened  to  it  pre- 

!M.  Eells,  Hayden's  Bulletin,  1877,  pp.  3,  63,  78,  79,  81. 

2  Idem.,  p.  80. 

3  Smithsonian  Report,  1886,  Pt.  1,  p.  271,  fig.  4. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  227 

vent  its  diving  down  to  any  great  depth.  After  having  a  number  of 
these  joined  to  it  the  animal  is  unable  to  quit  the  surface  and  is  finally 
captured. 

All  those  whose  sealskin  floats  are  attached  to  the  animal  now  divide 
the  booty.  Those  who  are  entitled  to  a  share  are  easily  known,  for 
each  float  has  a  different  pattern  printed  upon  it.1 

From  Vancouver  Island  around  the  interminable  coasts  of  North 
America  to  eastern  Greenland  the  float  is  only  in  a  few  places  absent 
from  the  harpoon  in  some  form.  It  may  be,  as  in  this  example,  the 
hide  of  an  immense  seal,  perhaps  of  a  smaller  seal,  elsewhere  a  bladder 
or  intestine  inflated.  On  the  coast  of  British  Columbia,  in  the  absence 
of  sealskins,  the  unconquerable  genius  of  invention  substitutes  a  large 
bag  or  wallet  of  cedar  bark,  and  the  Labrador  Eskimo  attaches  a  bit 
of  plank  to  the  butt  end  of  his  harpoon  shaft.  The  motive  is  the  same. 
A  huge  animal,  to  be  captured,  must  not  only  be  stabbed,  but  held 
back  by  an  unwearying  device  which  takes  the  place  of  the  hunter's 
hand  and  arm. 

The  Makah,  living  on  the  northwestern  point  of  Washington  State, 
pursue  the  whale  in  their  dugout  canoes.  On  one  occasion,  says 
George  Gibbs,  a  canoe  was  gone  five  days.  Their  tackle  consists  of  a 
harpoon,  the  point  formerly  edged  with  shell,  now  usually  with  cop- 
per, very  firmly  secured  to  a  line  and  attached  lightly  to  a  shaft  about 
15  feet  long,  to  which  also  the  line  is  made  fast;  a  sealskin  float  is 
attached  to  another  line  and  serves  to  buoy  the  whale  when  struck. 
The  scene  of  the  capture  is  described  by  eyewitnesses  as  very  excit- 
ing, ten  canoes  being  sometimes  engaged,  the  crews  yelling  and  dash- 
ing their  paddles  with  frantic  eagerness.  When  taken,  the  whale, 
buoyed  up  with  floats,  is  towed  in  triumph  to  the  village  and  cut  up.2 

The  Makahs  belong  to  the  Wakashan  family,  whose  chief  abode  is 
on  the  outer  side  of  Vancouver  Island.  They  are  the  Nutkas  of  Cap- 
tain Cook  and  of  the  early  explorers.  But  in  this  connection  they  are 
at  the  gateway  of  the  North  Pacific  archipelago,  where,  after  a  lone- 
some search  stretching  from  Magellan  Straits,  the  student  encounters 
the  Caribs  of  the  west.  One  after  another  Wakashan,  Salishan,  Hai- 
dah,  or  Skiddegatan  and  Tlinket,  or  Koloschan  come  out  to  meet  him 
in  their  graceful  dugouts  of  cedar. 

The  Makah  whaling  harpoon  consists  of  a  barbed  head,  to  which  is 
attached  a  rope  or  lanyard,  always  of  the  same  length,  about  5  fathoms, 
or  80  feet.  This  lanyard  is  made  of  whale's  sinews  twisted  into  a  rope 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  circumference  and  covered  with  twine 
wound  around  it  very  tightly,  called  by  sailors  u serving." 

The  harpoon  head  is  a  flat  piece  of  iron  or  copper,  usually  a  saw 
blade  or  a  piece  of  sheet  copper,  to  which  a  couple  of  barbs  made  of 

Charles  Wilkes,  Exploring  Expedition,  IV,  p.  486. 

•  George  (jribbs,  Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology,  1877,  I,  p.  175. 


228 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 


elk's  or  deer's  horn  are  secured,  and  the  whole  covered  with  a  coating 
of  spruce  gum.  Formerly  the  blades  were  of  mussel  shell.  The 
shaft  is  made  of  yew,  in  two  pieces,  which  are  joined  in  the  middle 
by  a  very  neat  scarf,  firmly  secured  by  a  narrow  strip  of  bark  wound 
round  it  very  tightly.  The  length  is  18  feet;  thickest  in  the  center, 
where  it  is  joined  together,  and  tapering  thence  to  both  ends.  To  be 
used,  the  staif  is  inserted  into  the  barbed  head,  and  the  end  of  the  lan- 
yard made  fast  to  a  buoy,  which  is  simply  a  seal  skin  taken  from  the 
animal  whole,  the  hair  being  left  inward.  The  apertures  of  the  head, 
feet,  and  tail  are  tied  up  air-tight,  and  the  skin  is  inflated  like  a  blad- 
der. One  example  collected  by  Swan  is  3  feet  long  (fig.  20). 


Fig.  20. 

TOGGLE  HEAD  AND  LINE. 

Makah  Indians,  Washington. 
Collected  by  James  G.  Swan. 

When  the  harpoon  is  driven  into  a  whale  the  barb  and  buoy  remain 
fastened  to  it,  but  the  staff  comes  out,  and  is  taken  into  the  canoe. 
The  harpoon  which  is  thrown  into  the  head  of  the  whale  has  but  one 
buoy  attached;  but  those  thrown  into  the  body  have  as  many  as  can 
be  conveniently  tied  on;  and,  when  a  number  of  canoes  join  in  the 
attack,  it  is  not  unusual  for  from  thirty  to  forty  of  these  buoys  to  be 
made  fast  to  the  whale,  which,  of  course,  can  not  sink  and  is  easily  dis- 
patched by  their  spears  and  lances.  The  buoys  are  fastened  together 
by  means  of  a  stout  line  made  of  spruce  roots,  first  slightly  roasted  in 
hot  ashes,  then  split  with  knives  into  fine  fibers,  and  finally  twisted 
into  ropes,  which  are  very  strong  and  durable.  These  ropes  are  also 
used  for  towing  the  dead  whale  to  the  shore.1 

Barnes  G.  Swan,  Smithsonian  Contributions,  XVI,  pp.  19-21. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  229 

The  Makahs,  according  to  Swan,  are  not  active  in  vocations  or  pur- 
suits other  than  fishing  and  whaling,  and  obtain  some  of  their  supplies 
by  barter  from  neighboring  tribes  and  white  men.  They  devote  very 
little  time  to  agricultural  pursuits  or  to  the  capture  of  land  animals, 
but  excel  in  the  management  of  canoes,  making  long  voyages  from 
land  for  fish,  and  fearlessly  attacking  the  whale.  They  manufacture 
their  own  fishing  apparatus,  and  take  especial  pains  with  their  har- 
poons and  lances,  for  which  instruments  they  have  the  greatest  regard. 
The  principal  implements  used  by  the  Makah  whalers  are  harpoons, 
lances,  ropes,  and  buoys.  The  harpoon  heads  were  formerly  made  of 
shell,  but  at  present  are  of  sheet  copper  or  steel,  with  barbs  of 
elk  or  deer  horn,  tightly  seized  to  the  blades  by  cords  or  strips  of 
bark,  the  whole  being  covered  with  spruce  gum.  The  lanyards  attached 
to  the  harpoon  are  made  of  the  sinew  of  the  whale  twisted  into  a  rope 
and  served  with  fibers  of  nettle.  The  lances  are  of  metal,  with  sockets 
for  the  ends  of  the  poles.  The  poles  for  the  harpoons  and  lances  are 


Fig.  21. 

SEALSKIN  FLOAT. 

Makah  Indians,  Washington. 
Collected  by  James  G.  Swan. 

heavy  and  unwieldy,  but  durable  and  strong.  The  buoys  are  of 
sealskin  with  the  hair  inside,  inflated  when  used,  and  attached  to  the 
harpoon  lanyards.  These  buoys  are  used  for  the  double  purpose  of 
impeding  the  progress  of  the  whale,  so  as  to  enable  the  Indians  to  kill 
it,  and  to  prevent  the  animal  from  sinking  when  dead. 

All  whaling  implements  which  have  been  used  in  the  capture  are 
regarded  with  especial  favor  and  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  it  is  deemed  unlucky  to  part  with  them.  These  Indians 
did  not  acquire  the  art  of  whaling  from  white  men,  and  still  employ 
the  apparatus  and  processes  which  have  come  to  them  through  count- 
less generations.  One  point  deserves  especial  consideration.  The 
process  of  wrapping  their  harpoon  lanyards,  commonly  known  as 
"serving,"  has  been  in  use  by  all  seafaring  men  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  Makah  Indian  has  his  serving  stick  and  mallet,  manu- 
factures his  twine  from  the  fibers  of  the  nettle,  and  "  serves"  his  lines 
as  neatly  as  do  the  fishermen  of  the  P]astern  coast,  and  it  is  said  they 
were  familiar  with  the  process  before  the  advent  of  the  whites.1 

1  James  G.  Swan,  Indians  of  Cape  Flattery. 


230  REPOET    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

The  implements  used  by  the  Makah  Indians  for  catching  salmon  were 
a  hook  and  a  spear.  The  former  is  in  size  as  large  as  a  shark  hook, 
having  a  socket  at  one  end  formed  of  wood.  These  hooks  are  made 
by  the  Indians  from  files  and  rasps,  which  they  purchase  of  the  traders, 
and  are  forged  into  shape  with  ingenuity  and  skill.  The  socket  is 
made  from  the  wild  raspberry  bush  (Rid>m  spectablis),  which,  having 
a  pith  in  its  center,  is  easily  worked  and  is  very  strong.  This  socket 
is  formed  of  two  parts,  firmly  secured  to  the  hook  by  means  of  twine, 
and  the  whole  covered  with  a  coat  of  pitch.  Attached  to  this  hook  is 
a  strong  cord  about  3  feet  long.  A  staff  or  pole  from  18  to  20  feet 
long,  made  from  fir,  is  used,  one  end  of  which  is  fitted  to  the  socket  in 
the  hook,  into  which  it  is  thrust,  and  the  cord  firmly  tied  to  the  pole. 
When  the  hook  is  fastened  into  a  salmon  it  slips  off  the  pole  and  the 
fish  is  held  by  the  cord,  which  enables  it  to  perform  its  antics  without 
breaking  the  staff,  which  it  would  be  sure  to  do  if  the  hook  were  firmly 
fastened.1 

Giglioli  figures  a  barbed  harpoon  head  (Kaheita),  made  of  whale's 
bone,  brought  from  Nutka  by  Captain  Cook,  and  now  in  the  Natural 
History  Museum  of  Florence.  It  has  two  barbs  on  one  side  and  is 
attached  to  a  line  10  mm.  thick,  served  with  twine.2  This  most  inter- 
esting object,  10  inches  long,  reduces  the  harpoon  head  to  its  lowest 
terms.  It  reminds  the  student  of  the  Fuegian  type,  or,  better,  of  the 
universal  American  fundamental  barbed  type.  At  the  base  or  joint  — 
and  this  is  one  of  the  crucial  points  for  invention — there  is  merely 
the  rudest  kind  of  pivot  to  fit  into  the  socket  at  the  end  of  the 
shaft.  There  is  no  perforation,  or  even  bulb,  to  hold  the  line.  The 
shank  is  simply  hacked  to  make  it  rough.  Some  old  pieces  in  the 
U.  S.  National  Museum,  of  bone,  antler,  iron,  and  copper,  collected  by 
Gibbs,  McLean,  and  Fisher,  have  from  one  to  four  barbs  on  one  side, 
and  have  line  holes  or  projections  for  the  end  of  the  connecting  line. 

Ellis  says  that  the  Nutka  (Wakashan)  Indians  had  two  kinds  of 
harpoons — one  of  bone,  the  other  of  shell.  The  former — that  is,  the 
barbed  head— is  6  inches  long,  pointed,  having  barbs  on  one  side.  Of 
the  one  with  the  shell  blade,  the  butt  end  is  "so  contrived  by  means 
of  a  socket  as  to  fix  upon  a  pole  10  feet  in  length.  The  shaft  is  forked 
at  the  end,  so  that  two  pieces  of  the  bone  are  to  be  fixed  on  at  the 
same  time."  To  the  shank  of  the  barb  a  strong  line  is  attached,  to  the 
other  end  of  which  is  fastened  a  seal  skin,  blown  up.  The  float  is  said 
to  prevent  the  animal  from  keeping  under  water.  It  was  dispatched 
with  the  lance.3  This  corresponds  precisely  with  the  specimens  in 
the  National  Museum  collected  by  Swan  in  recent  times.  In  one  of 
his  examples  the  mussel  shell,  ground  to  a  razor  edge,  forms  the 

1  James  G.  Swan,  Northwest  Coast,  New  York,  1857,  pp.  40  and  41. 

2  Appunti  intorno  ad  una  collezione,  etc.,  Florence,  1895,  p.  131,  pi.  in, 

3  Ellis,  An  Authentic  Narrative,  I,  p.  221. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  231 

blade,  and  it  is  so  neatly  fitted  between  the  spurs  forming  the  toggle 
and  covered  with  pitch  as  to  make  a  sure  and  efficient  weapon.  All 
that  the  iron  did  later  on  was  to  replace  the  rather  brittle  edge  of 
shell,  without  modifying  any  other  portions  of  the  intricate  appa- 
ratus. 

Marchand's  account  of  the  harpoon  in  Barclay  Sound,  west  side  of 
Vancouver  Island,  is  here  given.  The  strong  lance,  which  may  be 
called  their  unerring  lance,  is  intended  for  striking  the  whale  when  he 
presents  himself  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  never  does  an  Ameri- 
can fail  to  wound  him  at  the  first  stroke.  Instantly  the  slighter  lances 
are,  em  ployed  for  darting  the  harpoons,  to  each  of  which  is  fastened 
one  of  the  long  pieces  of  rope.  The  other  end  of  the  line  is  fixed  to 
one  of  those  large  bladders  filled  with  air.  This  sort  of  balloons,  float- 
ing on  the  water,  cease  not  to  indicate  the  place  where  to  find  the 
whale,  dead  or  wounded,  that  has  carried  with  him  a  harpoon,  and 
the  fishermen,  directed  by  this  signal,  follow  him  up  and  celebrate  by 
songs  of  joy  their  victory  and  conquest.  But  the  most  difficult  is  not, 
undoubtedly,  to  deprive  the  monster  of  life.  It  remains  for  them  to 
get  possession  of  him,  and  it  would  never  be  believed,  if  we  were  not 
assured  of  the  fact,  that  with  skiff's  so  slight  and  ticklish  as  canoes 
hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  a  few  men  should  succeed  in 
dragging  the  space  of  4  or  5  leagues  an  enormous  mass  and  contrive  to 
run  it  on  shore  on  a  beach,  where  they  can  cut  it  up.1  A  glimpse  at 
the  ethnographic  chart  of  North  America  shows  that  the  Aht  or  Nutka 
division  of  the  Wakashan  family  occupies  the  western  portion  of  Van- 
couver Island,  while  the  coast  of  British  Columbia  belongs  to  the 
Haeltzukan  branch,  as  shown  by  Boas.  The  same  author  fixes  the 
limits  of  the  Chimmesyan  family  on  the  coast  between  the  Koloschan 
and  the  Haeltzukan  tribes.2  All  about  Puget  Sound  were  Salishan 
tribes,  and  a  small  contingent  of  the  same  family  approach  the  harpoon 
area  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bella  Coola  River. 

Harlan  I.  Smith  dug  up  at  the  junction  of  Thompson  and  Fraser 
rivers  two  barbed  harpoon  heads  9  inches  long,  made  of  antler.  They 
have  two  barbs  on  one  side  and  a  hole  for  the  connecting  line.3 

In  a  future  paper  the  fishhooks  of  the  same  area  will  be  discussed, 
from  which  it  can  be  more  clearly  shown  how  the  idea  of  the  bent 
finger  and  its  imitators  in  bone  and  wood  has  also  dominated  the  form 
of  the  fish  spear  and  the  harpoon. 

Niblack  *  figures  both  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  heads  among  the 
Haida  Indians  of  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  British  Columbia,  a  little 

1  Marchand's  Voyage,  London,  1801,  I,  pp.  492-493. 

2  Fifth  Report  of  Committee  on  Northwest  Tribes  of  Canada,  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  1889. 

3  Memoirs,  American  Museum  Natural  History,  New  York,  II,  p.  137,  fig.  20. 

4  Report  U.  8.  National  Museum,  1888,  pi.  xxix, 


232  REPORT    OF   NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

farther  north.  The  barbed  heads  are  of  steel.  The  piercing  end  of 
each  is  lanceolate.  The  barbed  portion  is  toothed  or  notched  in  its 
entire  length,  six  barbs  on  the  one  side  and  five  on  the  other,  alter- 
nating. The  tang  is  oval,  perforated,  and  has  a  small  loop  or  clevis 
riveted  fast  to  it.  Through  this  is  secured  a  plaited  lanyard  or  loop  of 
seaweed,  by  means  of  which  the  head  is  attached  to  the  foreshaf t  or  to 
the  main  line.  Each  one  of  these  fits  in  a  cedar  case,  made  by  splitting 
a  piece  of  wood,  hollowing  it  out,  and  then  lashing  the  parts  together, 
a  method  adopted  by  these  Indians  in  their  musical  instruments  and 
various  receptacles. 

The  toggle  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  88929,  U.S.N.M.)  of  the  Haida 
Indians,  figured  by  Niblack,  is  still  more  interesting,  being  quite  simi- 
lar to  the  harpoon  arrowheads  of  the  South  American  tribes.  The 
head  is  of  steel,  the  piercing  ends  in  the  form  of  a  spike.  At  the  other 
end  the  metal  is  split  open  and  one  portion  extended  backward  for  a 
barb  or  spur.  Just  where  the  spur  unites  with  the  body  a  rawhide 
line  is  wrapped  to  form  a  shallow  socket.  Into  this  the  end  of  the 
loose  shaft  fits,  being  cut  off  in  the  form  of  a  wedge  at  the  end.  The 
other  end  of  the  loose  shaft  is  widened  out  to  fit  into  a  socket  in  the 
end  of  the  shaft.  The  thong  which  is  wrapped  around  the  head  is  also 
securely  fastened  to  the  f oreshaf t  at  its  middle  and  looped  at  the  other 
end,  to  be  spliced  on  to  the  long  line  for  securing  the  game.  (Cat.  No. 
88803,  U.S.N.M.) 

Captain  Cook  draws  attention  to  the  barbed  harpoons  on  Cook 
Inlet,  made  of  fir,  about  4  feet  in  length.  They  are  mentioned  here 
to  mark  the  northern  terminus  of  the  unilateral  barb,  but  they  will 
be  described  fully  later  on.  One  end  is  formed  of  bone,  into  which, 
by  means  of  a  socket,  another  small  piece  of  bone,  which  is  barbed,  is 
fixed,  but  contrived  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  put  in  and  taken  out 
without  trouble.  This  is  secured  to  the  middle  of  the  stick  by  a  strong, 
though  thin  piece  of  twine  composed  of  sinews.  These  darts  are 
thrown  with  the  assistance  of  a  thin  piece  of  wood  12  or  14  inches  long. 
The  middle  of  this  is  slightly  hollowed  for  the  better  reception  of  the 
weapon,  and  at  the  termination  of  the  hollow,  which  does  not  extend 
to  the  end,  is  fixed  a  short,  pointed  piece  of  bone  to  prevent  the  dart 
from  slipping.  The  other  extremity  is  furnished  with  a  hole  for  the 
forefinger,  and  the  sides  are  made  to  coincide  with  the  other  fingers 
and  thumb  in  order  to  grasp  with  greater  firmness.1 

The  Chilkotin  Indians  in  western  Canada  spear  salmon  with  a  double- 
headed  toggle  harpoon.  The  shaft  is  a  long  pole,  upon  the  inner  end 
of  which  are  spliced  two  short  pieces  of  wood  which  serve  as  foreshaf ts. 
The  head  of  the  harpoon  is  made  of  three  separate  pieces,  the  point  or 
spike  and  two  flukes  or  spurs,  all  securely  lashed  together  in  such  a 
way  that  a  cavity  is  left  in  the  base  for  the  end  of  the  foreshaf  t.  The 


1  Second  Voyage,  III,  p.  14. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


233 


line  is  tied  at  its  ends  around  the  heads,  just  above  the  flukes  or  barbs, 
and  the  middle  of  the  line  is  securely  held 
in  place  near  the  end  of  the  shaft  by  a 
lashing  of  line.  When  the  salmon  is  struck 
the  toggle  is  fastened  in  the  animal's  body 
and  is  withdrawn  from  the  ends  of  the 
foreshaft.  The  short  line  between  the 
head  and  the  shaft  enables  the  fisherman 
to  play  with  the  victim  and  to  land  it  more 
successfully.1  Similar  toggle  heads  on  a 
bifurcated  shaft  are  to  be  seen  among  the 
Thompson  River  Indians  of  British  Co- 
lumbia. This  weapon  is  used  for  har,poon- 
ing  salmon  from  the  shore  while  they  are 
running.  The  handle  is  15  feet  or  more 
in  length  and  has  two  prongs  securely 
spliced  on  to  the  end  of  the  shaft  (fig.  22). 
The  Thompson  River  specimen  is  similarly 
made  up  of  three  pieces,  the  point  and  the 
two  spurs,  but  these  last  do  not  bend  out- 
ward, as  in  the  Chilkotin  example,  but  lie 
close  against  the  foreshaft,  leaving  a  nar- 
row cavity  to  fit  over  the  end  of  the  latter, 
which  is  whittled  in  the  form  of  a  wedge. 
The  line  or  leader  which  holds  these  two 
barbs  to  the  front  end  of  the  shaft  is 
braided,  and  the  ends  are  caught  under  the 
lashing  by  means  of  which  the  toggle  is 
built  up.  James  Teit  says  that  when  the 
fish  is  struck  the  barb  points  are  detached, 
and  the  fish,  with  the  toggle  in  its  body,  is 
hauled  ashore  by  means  of  the  line.  In 
some  forms  of  the  spear  the  whole  fore- 
shaft  is  detachable.  There  are  also  exam- 
ples in  which  only  one  toggle  head  is  used, 
and  there  are  also  spears  with  fixed  heads. 
In  that  case  the  weapon  is  thrust  through 
the  body  of  the  fish.2  Batchelor  figures  a 
similar  double-headed  toggle  harpoon 
among  the  Ainu.3 

On  the  eastern  side  of  North  America  it 
will  be  convenient  to  begin  with  Florida. 
Looking  over  Mr.  Cushing's  collections  from  San  Marco,  in  the  south- 

1  A.  G.  Morice,  Notes  on  the  Western  Denes.  Trans.  Canadian  Institute,  1894,  p.  71. 

2  James  Teit,  Thompson  River  Indians,  1900,  p.  251,  fig.  231. 

3  The  Ainu  of  Japan,  Chicago,  1893,  p.  154, 


Fig.  22. 

TOGGLE  HARPOON. 

Thompson  Indians,  British  Columbia. 

Am.  Mus.  Nat.  History,  N.  Y 

After  James  Teit. 


234  KEPOET    OF   NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

western  corner  of  the  State,  and  Mr.  Sawyer's  drawings,  made  at  the 
time  they  were  excavated,  does  not  reveal  harpoons;  but  two  varieties 
of  throwing  sticks  were  dug  up.  Gushing  found  no  barbed  heads.  It 
was  a  great  surprise  to  find  the  atlatl  or  spear  and  harpoon  thrower  in 
Florida.  In  1895,  when  Gushing  first  heard  of  the  wonderful  remains 
at  San  Marco,  Von  den  Steineri  had  just  revealed  the  finding  of  the 
same  implement  in  the  Mato  Grosso,  Lumholtz  and  Seler  announced 
its  existence  in  northern  Mexico,  and  the  author  discovered  it  in  the 
cliff  dwellings  of  the  Verde.  Gushing's  are  the  central  finger-hole 
type  and  the  two-holed  type  for  the  fore  and  the  middle  finger.  As 
the  Gulf  Stream  sweeps  past  the  Orinoco  mouth,  across  the  Caribbean 
sea  to  Yucatan,  and  thence  in  a  narrower  and  swifter  current  past 
Florida  Keys,  one  is  not  surprised  to  find  a  Mexican  weapon  there. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Ernst  says:  "The  Seminole  Indians  of  the  Everglades 
now  use  white  man's  hooks,  but  adhere  to  the  old-fashioned  harpoon, 
which  is  used  in  catching  fish  and  terrapin."  The  reader  will  find 
abundant  evidence  of  the  use  of  barbed  harpoons  in  the  Southern 
Straits  in  quotations  from  Adair,  Barker,  Bartram,  de  Bry,  and  Hen- 
nepin.  Adair  accompanied  the  Indians  killing  sturgeons  in  Savannah 
River  with  green  swamp  harpoons.  These  are  long,  sharp-pointed 
green  canes,  well  bearded  and  hardened  in  the  fire.  When  they  dis- 
covered a  fish  they  thrust  into  its  body  one  of  the  harpoons.  "As  the 
fish  would  immediately  strike  deep,  its  strength  was  soon  expended  in 
violent  struggles  against  the  buoyant  force  of  the  green  dart.  As 
soon  as  the  top  end  of  the  dart  appeared  again  on  the  surface  of  the 
water,  we  made  up  to  the  fish,  renewed  the  attack,  and  in  like  manner 
continued  until  we  had  secured  our  game."1  These  southern  harpoons 
were  of  the  very  lowest  grade,  if  they  were  worthy  of  the  name  at  all. 
The  motives  for  devising  a  highly  organized  type  did  not  exist. 

In  Rau's  Prehistoric  Fishing,  barbed  harpoon  heads  are  figured. 
These  were  taken  from  mounds,  shell  heaps,  and  other  remains,  from 
Maine  to  Michigan.  They  all  belong  to  the  barbed  variety,  and  are  of 
the  simplest  kind.  Three  types  might  be  said  to  exist  in  Dr.  Wilson's 
collection  in  the  National  Museum,  the  sagittate,  in  which  the  barbs 
are  equal  on  the  two  sides  of  the  point;  the  forms  with  multiple  barbs 
of  the  same  number  on  either  side;  those  having  an  uneven  number  of 
barbs  on  the  two  sides,  usually  two  on  one  edge  and  three  on  the  other, 
and  those  with  any  number  of  barbs  on  one  side,  as  on  the  north  Pacific 
coast.  At  the  tang  end  barbed  harpoons  are  divided  into  two  classes 
by  means  of  the  connecting  line  which  joins  the  head  to  the  shaft, 
namely,  the  notched  tang  and  the  pierced  tang.  These  again  are  fur- 
ther subdivided,  for  the  notch  may  be  only  a  scratching  or  roughening 
of  the  surface  or  a  bulb,  and  the  piercing  may  be  only  a  small  hole  or 

1C.  C.  Jones,  Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  New  York,  1873,  Chapter  xiv. 


ABOKIGINAL    AMERICAN    HAKPOONS.  235 

large  opening.  About  the  Great  Lakes  barbed  harpoon  heads  are 
plentiful,  notched  and  pierced. 

Charlevoix  describes  the  sturgeon  spear  of  the  Iroquois  fishermen 
on  the  Great  Lakes.  Two  men  go  out  in  a  canoe,  one  to  paddle,  the 
other,  in  the  bow,  holding  a  barbed  harpoon  dart  secured  to  the  canoe 
by  a  long  cord.  Ingersoll  compares  this  to  the  Columbia  River  stur- 
geon chaser.  The  hook  is  like  a  gaff  attached  to  a  short  wooden 
socket  fast  to  a  line,  the  other  end  of  which  is  tied  to  the  canoe.  The 
operation  of  catching  is  described  by  Swan.1  On  the  authority  of 
Dr.  W.  M.  Beauchamp  the  barbed  harpoon  had  a  wide  variation 
among  the  Iroquois  and  the  tribes  on  the  Great  Lakes.  They  are,  as 
regards  their  barbs,  unilateral  and  bilateral,  and  as  to  the  tang,  notched, 
bulbed,  and  pierced.  The  bilateral  and  sagittate  forms  are  earlier  and 
in  larger  numbers.  Recent  Mohawk,  Cayuga,  and  Seneca  sites  yield 
large  specimens.  Both  kinds  are  most  plentiful  at  the  inlet  of  Onon- 
daga  Lake,  the  outlet  of  Oneida  Lake,  and  near  Chaumont  Bay,  in 
Jefferson  County.  At  Brewerton  more  harpoon  heads  have  been 
found  than  in  all  the  rest  of  New  York  and,  perhaps,  than  all  the 
eastern  United  States.  It  is  an  excellent  place  for  the  work  of  the 
harpoon.  The  large  Iroquois  harpoon  had  only  a  short  point.  The 
counties  in  New  York  yielding  barbed  harpoons  are  Jefferson,  Mont- 
gomery, Madison,  Onondaga,  Cayuga,  and  Livingston.  They  are 
found  in  village  sites  and  camps,  rarely  in  graves,  coming  out  of  the 
ashes,  says  Beauchamp,  in  fine  order. 

Dr.  Beauchamp  has  made  a  thorough  study  of  the  bone  harpoon 
head  in  the  Iroquois  country  in  New  York.  The  reader  will  have  to  con- 
sult his  Bulletin  of  the  New  York  State  Museum  to  appreciate  the  end- 
less variety  of  forms  carved  out  by  this  quick-minded  race.  There  are 
pierced,  bulbed,  and  notched  bases,  unilateral  and  bilateral  barbs,  wide 
and  narrow  blades,  single  barbs  and  multiple  barbs,  long  barbs  and 
short  barbs,  alternate  and  opposite  barbs.  One  would  require  the 
vocabulary  of  the  botanist  for  leaves  to  define  the  shapes  in  Beau- 
champ's  figures. 

Josselyn  tells  us  that  among  the  New  England  Indians  bass  and  blue- 
fish  were  taken  in  harbors  and  in  the  mouths  of  barred  rivers,  the  fisher- 
men being  in  canoes  and  striking  the  fish  with  a  "  fizgig,"  a  kind  of 
dart  or  staff,  to  the  lower  end  of  which  was  fastened  a  sharp,  jagged 
bone  with  a  string  to  it.  As  soon  as  the  fish  was  struck  the  hunter 
pulled  away  the  staff,  leaving  the  barbed  head  in  the  fish's  body,  and 
fastened  the  other  end  of  the  string  to  the  canoe.  Thus  they  hauled 
often  as  many  as  ten  great  fish  to  the  shore. 

Sturgeon  were  taken  in  this  way  at  night  on  the  fishing  banks,  where 
they  were  feeding  upon  small  fishes  called  lances,  sucking  them  out  of 
the  sand.  The  Indian  lighted  a  piece  of  dry  birch  bark  and  held  it 

Ernest  Ingersoll,  The  Field,  London,  LXII,  p.  413. 


286  EEPOET   OF   NATIONAL   MUSEUM,   1900. 

over*  the  side  of  the  canoe;  the  sturgeon,  seeing  this  light,  mounted  to 
the  surface,  where  it  was  slain  and  captured  with  a  fizgig.1 

Dr.  Fewkes  calls  attention  to  walrus-ivory  spear  points  in  Nova 
Scotia  similar  to  those  used  by  the  Eskimo.  The  walrus  frequented 
the  coast  of  Prince  Edward  Island  within  historic  times.  The  points 
are  not  definitely  described.2 

ARCTIC    HARPOONS. 

The  Eskimo  harpoons  are  of  every  variety,  barbed  or  toggle. 
The  dependence  of  the  people  largely  on  aquatic  animals  for  food, 
dress,  house,  furniture,  tools,  and  utensils  of  all  sorts  makes  some 
kind  of  retrieving  device  absolutely  necessary.  They  use  the  lance 
also  most  effectively,  but  the  weak  spear,  with  which  the  Indian  tribes 
are  wont  to  pick  fish  from  the  water,  would  be  of  little  use  among  the 
Eskimo.  The  variety  of  animal  life,  both  in  size  and  habit,  as  well  as 
differences  of  terrestrial  conditions,  have  stimulated  the  Eskimo  mind 
to  the  utmost  in  devising  the  most  varied  additions  to  what  was  in  the 
beginning  quite  simple.  Here,  also,  along  the  Arctic  shore,  more 
than  in  all  other  environments  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  combined, 
suggestions  of  improvement  have  come  from  without.  It  is  nature's 
pedagogic  institute.  More  than  that,  harpoon  heads,  large  and  small, 
of  most  appropriate  patterns,  have  been  made  by  machinery  and  traded 
to  the  Eskimo  by  whalers  and  fur  hunters.  In  this  part  of  the  paper 
the  specimens  will  be  described  as  they  occur.  The  question  of  the 
derivation  of  each  feature  will  then  be  more  easily  settled. 

A.  B.  Meyer  calls  attention  to  this  and  sa}^s  that  the  little  toggle 
heads  of  harpoons  were  not  invented  in  their  present  form.  Semper 
encountered  them  among  the  Negritos  of  the  Palanan,  north  coast  of 
Luzon,  for  pig  shooting,  in  the  form  of  harpoon  arrows.  Meyer 
describes  an  example  from  Bataan,  after  A.  Schadenberg,  and  figures 
examples  from  Palanan  and  Bataan.  Alt  of  these  have  3-feathered 
shafts,  spindle-shaped  loose  shafts,  attached  to  both  head  and  shaft  by 
a  short  line,  and  iron  heads,  including  both  barb  and  toggle  charac- 
teristics. The  barbs  are  sometimes  at  right  angles  to  the  plane  of  the 
line  hole,  in  other  examples  in  the  same  plane.  In  some  the  toggle 
head  has  a  conical  projection  for  a  socket,  the  latter  being  on  the  end 
of  the  loose  shaft.  Of  the  last-named  pattern  the  Eskimo  examples 
have  no  parallel  forms.3 

The  Eskimo  province  may  be  divided  into  the  following  areas  or 
subdivisions : 

Area  1.  East  Greenland,  west  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Hudson 
Bay.* 

1  John  Josselyn,  Two  Voyages  to  New  England,  1674,  p.  140. 

2  American  Antiquarian,  XVIII,  1896,  p.  6. 

3  A.  B.  Meyer,  Die  Negritos,  IX,  folio  series,  publications  of  the  Royal  Dresden 
Museum,  p.  14,  figs.  1  and  2;  pi.  vi,  figs.  2  and  3;  pi.  vm,  figs.  1  and  2. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  237 

Area  2.  The  central  Eskimo  of  Boas. 

Area  3.  The  arctic  Eskimo,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River, 
including  Point  Barrow  and  Kotzebue  Sound. 

Area  4.  The  Bering  Sea  Eskimo,  including  Bering  Strait  southward 
to  Norton  Sound,  the  lower  Yukon,  Nunivak  Island  and  the  mainland, 
Bristol  Bay,  and  Kadiak. 

EAST   GREENLAND    HARPOONS. 

In  this  seemingly  out-of-the-world  location  the  harpoon  is  far  from 
its  original  form.  All  specimens  are  toggled  and  iron  enters  surpris- 
ingly into  their  composition.  Holm  (1887)  figures  the  different  varie- 
ties in  his  Plates  15,  16,  29,  30,  32,  33. 

The  hinged  lance  is  here  also  witji  shaft  of  wood,  having  hand  rests 
on  the  sides,  assembling  lines  of  rawhide  to  hold  the  parts  together T 
and  foreshaf t  with  flat  top,  from  the  middle  of  which  a  short  cone  pro- 
jects. Some  lances  have,  instead  of  hand  rests  for  thrusting  or  hurl- 
ing from  the  hand,  the  throwing  stick  or  ajagsick.  The  head  of  the 
hinged  lance  consists  of  three  parts,  the  iron  blade  (1),  set  in  a  shank 
of  ivory  (2),  and  this  is  fastened  into  a  block  of  the  same  material  (3), 
with  flat  base,  in  the  center  of  which  is  a  cavity  just  fitting  over  the 
cone  on  the  top  of  the  f  oreshaf  t.  This  block  is  hinged  to  the  f  oreshaf  t 
by  means  of  elastic  rawhide  thongs  piercing  it  and  the  shaft1  (fig.  23). 

The  plainest  variety  of  east  Greenland  has  a  wooden  shaft,  with 
chisel-shaped  ice  pick  at  the  end.  The  toggle  head  is  of  bone  or  ivory, 
with  iron  blade,  flat,  cone-shaped  body,  two  line  holes  quite  through 
the  body,  united  by  a  groove  on  the  back,  into  which  the  line  sinks. 
The  shaft  socket  is  in  the  center  of  the  base,  two  wing-like  barbs  flanking 
it.  The  complete  sealing  harpoon  is  modeled  after  that  of  west  Green- 
land, having  eyelets  instead  of  hooks  for  the  throwing  stick,  and  being 
covered  all  over  with  little  figures  of  animals,  reminding  one  slightly 
of  the  Aleutian  hat  and  the  bark  onlaying  of  the  Amur  people. 

The  barbed  leisters  or  fish  spears,  with  two  or  more  barbs,  are  turned 
by  these  Eskimo  into  a  toggle  arrangement  quite  unique  in  America. 
The  piercing  ends  are  of  iron  or  bone  and  hinged  as  in  a  pair  of  scis- 
sors, the  cutting  end  piercing  the  animal,  the  other  end  lying  against 
the  shank.  When  they  have  entered  the  flesh  these  points  turn  at  right 
angles  and  toggle.2  A  most  curious  device  is  the  adaptation  of  this 
hinged  head  to  a  seal  harpoon,  provided  with  a  little  sled  on  the  fore 
end  of  a  very  long  shaft.  It  will  be  seen  later  on  that  the  west  Green- 
landers  use  for  deep-sea  fishing  for  seals  a  very  long  shaft  worked  by 
two  men,  and  that  the  Giliaks  make  a  harpoon  shaft  nearly  a  hundred 
feet  long,  with  a  float  on  the  fore  end.3 


1  Holm,  East  Greenland,  1887,  pi.  xv. 

2  Idem.,  pi.  xv,  a  and  b. 


3  Schrenk,  Reisen  und  Forschungen  in  Amurlande,  1881,  p.  546. 


238 


OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


A  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  168960,  U.S.N.M.)  from  east  Greenland,  pre- 
sented by  the  Copenhagen  Museum,  is  shown  in  Plate  4.  While 
in  general  appearance  the  weapon  is  similar  to  those  of  the  same  char- 
acter in  southwest  Greenland,  the  head  is  a  type  peculiar  to  the  eastern 
part  of  the  peninsula.  The  body  is  of  narwhal  ivory,  conical  in  out- 
line, a  long,  lanceolate  blade  fastened  in  by  means  of  a  rivet.  The 
point  of  the  loose  shaft  enters  directly  into  the  base,  which  is 
flanked  by  two  conspicuous  barbs  or  spurs.  A  strip  of  iron  is  riveted 
across  the  lower  portion  on  either  side  to  strengthen  it.  An  interest- 
ing feature  in  this  specimen  is  the  line  hole,  which  consists  of  two  sep- 
arate perforations,  united  on  the  back  with  a 
groove  or  countersunk  cavity  to  prevent  the 
line  from  chafing.  The  loose  shaft,  which  has 
been  neatty  spliced  at  the  upper  end,  has  a 
flat  surface  at  the  base,  with  a  projection  in 
the  middle,  fitting  into  a  cavity  on  the  front  of 
the  foreshaft,  and  the  two  are  tightly  hinged 
together  by  means  of  a  lashing  of  elastic  raw- 
hide. The  use  of  this  joint  has  been  elsewhere 
explained.  The  foreshaft  is  in  this  specimen  a 
cap  of  ivory,  squared  off  on  top,  and  the  middle 
left  projecting  for  the  socket  on  the  base  of 
the  loose  shaft.  The  shaft  is  of  wood,  and  has 
on  its  surface  the  following  attachments:  A 
knob  of  ivory  at  the  lower  end,  three  hooks  or 
pegs  for  the  throwing  stick,  one  to  catch  into 
its  base  or  working  end,  and  two  near  each 
other  fitting  into  holes  in  the  manual  end  of  the 
throwing  stick,  as  seen  in  the  figure.  Near 
these  pegs  is  a  hook  of  ivory,  over  which  fits 
a  catch  of  the  same  material  on  the  line,  serv- 
ing to  hold  the  toggle  head  firmly  upon  the  top 
of  the  loose  shaft  when  the  weapon  is  set  ready 
to  be  plunged  into  the  body  of  the  animal. 
The  throwing  stick  has  a  perforation  at  the 
working  end  instead  of  a  peg.  The  line  of  rawhide  is  fastened  imme- 
diately into  the  head  of  the  harpoon  and  has  a  toggle  at  the  other  end 
to  be  attached  to  the  line  of  the  float.  The  other  accessories  to  har- 
poons of  this  class  are  to  be  seen  in  Plates  14, 15,  and  16  of  Holm  (1887). 


HINGED  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

East  Greenland. 
After  Gustav  Holm. 


WEST   GREENLAND. 


The  oldest  accounts  of  the  Eskimo  refer  to  those  of  Greenland  and 
Labrador,  but  some  of  their  apparatus  remains  quite  primitive.  Again, 
in  a  preliminary  work  like  this  the  area  can  not  be  accurately  sub- 
divided. The  natives  themselves  are  fond  of  wandering  about,  and 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  19CO.— Ma^on. 


PLATE  4. 


TOGGLE  HARPOON,  EAST  GREENLAND. 

Gift  of  Copenhagen  Museum. 
Cat.  No.  108960,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  239 

they  leave  their  ideas  as  well  as  their  accouterments.  The  task  of  dis- 
crimination is  further  embarrassed  by  the  collector's  unfortunate  habit 
of  labeling  a  specimen  with  the  name  of  the  place  where  he  procured 
it,  himself  frequently  not  knowing  the  place  of  its  manufacture.  The 
numbers  on  the  specimens  are  arranged  as  they  occur  in  the  catalogue 
of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum. 

Hans  Egede,  the  apostle  to  Greenland  (1721-1736),  gives  the  follow- 
ing description  of  the  harpoon  and  its  uses: 

When  the  Indians  of  Greenland  go  whale  catching  they  put  on  their  best  apparel, 
fancying  that  if  they  did  not  come  neatly  dressed  the  whale,  who  can  not  bear 
slovenly  habits,  would  shun  them.  About  fifty  men  and  women  set  out  in  one  of 
the  large  boats  called  kone-boats.  The  women  carry  along  with  them  their  sewing 
tackle,  consisting  of  needles  and  thread,  to  sew  and  mend  their  husbands'  spring 
coats  should  they  be  torn,  and  also  to-mend  the  boat  in  case  it  should  receive 
any  damage.  The  men  go  in  search  of  the  whale,  and  when  they  have  found  it 
they  strike  it  with  their  harpoons,  to  which  are  fastened  lines  or  straps  2  or  3 
fathoms  long,  at  the  end  of  which  they  tie  a  bag  of  a  whole  seal  skin  filled  with 
air;  so  that  when  a  whale  finds  itself  wounded  and  runs  away  with  the  harpoon  it 
may  the  sooner  become  tired,  the  air  bag  hindering  it  from  being  long  under  water. 
When  it  thus  loses  strength  they  attack  it  again  with  their  spears  and  lances  until  it 
is  killed;  then  they  put  on  their  spring  coats,  made  of  dressed  seal  skin,  all  of  one 
piece,  with  boots,  gloves,  and  caps,  sewed  and  laced  so  tight  together  that  no  water 
can  penetrate  them.  In  this  garb  they  jump  into  the  sea  and  begin  to  slice  the  fat  off 
all  around  the  body,  evenundei  the  water;  for  in  these  coats  they  can  not  sink,  since 
they  are  full  of  air,  so  that  they  can,  like  the  seal,  stand  upright  in  the  sea.  They 
are  sometimes  so  daring  they  will  get  upon  the  whale's  back  while  there  is  yet  life 
in  him,  to  cut  away  the  fat. 

They  go  much  the  same  way  to  work  in  killing  seal  except  that  the  harpoon  is 
lesser,  and  to  it  is  fastened  a  line  6  or  7  fathoms  long.  At  the  end  is  a  bladder  or 
bag  made  of  a  small  sealskin  filled  with  air,  to  keep  the  seal,  when  he  is  wounded, 
from  diving  under  water  and  being  lost  again.  In  the  northern  parts,  where  the 
sea  is  frozen  over  in  the  winter,  the  Eskimo  use  other  means.  They  first  look 
out  for  holes  which  the  seals  make  with  their  claws,  about  the  size  of  a  half  penny, 
that  they  may  catch  their  breath.  After  they  have  found  a  hole  they  seat  them- 
selves near  it  upon  a  chair  made  for  the  purpose,  and  as  soon  as  they  perceive  the 
seal  come  up  to  the  hole  and  put  its  snout  into  it  for  air,  they  immediately  strike 
it  with  a  small  harpoon  to  which  is  fastened  a  strap  a  fathom  long,  which  they  hold 
in  the  other  hand.  After  it  is  struck  and  can  not  escape,  they  cut  the  hole  so 
large  that  they  may  get  the  animal  up  through  it,  and  as  soon  as  they  have  its  head 
above  the  ice  they  can  kill  it  with  one  blow  of  the  fist. 

A  third  way  of  catching  seals  is  to  make  a  great  hole  in  the  ice,  or  in  the  spring 
they  find  holes  made  by  the  seals.  Near  to  these  holes  they  place  a  low  bench 
upon  which  they  lie  down  upon  their  bellies,  having  first  made  a  small  hole  near  the 
larger  one,  through  which  they  let  softly  down  a  perch  16  or  20  yards  long,  headed 
with  a  harpoon,  a  strap  being  fastened  to  it  which  one  holds  in  his  hand,  while 
another,  who  lies  upon  a  bench  with  his  face  downward,  watches  the  coming  of  the 
seal,  when  he  cries  "Kae,"  whereupon  he  who  holds  the  pole  pushes  and  strikes 
the  seal. 

The  fourth  way  is  this:  When  the  seals,  in  the  spring,  are  lying  upon  the  ice  near 
holes  which  they  themselves  make  to  get  up  and  down,  the  Greenlanders,  clothed 
in  sealskin,  holding  harpoons  in  their  hands,  creep  along  upon  the  ice,  moving  their 


240 


REPORT    OF   NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


heads  backward  and  forward  and  snoring  like  a  seal  till  they  come  so  near  them  that 
they  can  reach  the  animal  with  their  harpoons  and  strike  them.1 

The  Greenlanders,  says  Nansen,  use  two  forms  of  the  great  harpoon: 
(1)  the  Unak,  with  butt  end  finished  in  a  bone  knob;  it  is  longer  and 
slighter  than  (2)  the  Ernangnak,  having  on  its  butt  end  two  feathers 
of  bone,  commonly  whale  rib,  to  increase  the  weight  and  guide  the 
flight.2  The  line  is  made  of  young  walrus  (Odobaznus  rosmarus)  or  of 
bearded  seal  hide  (Phoca  barbata),  from  15  to  18 
yards  long  and  one-fourth  inch  wide.  The  float  is 
the  skin  of  a  young  ringed  seal  (Phoca  fmtidd)  taken 
off  whole,  the  hair  removed,  the  apertures  all  tied 
up,  and  the  whole  dried.  The  line  is  coiled  on  the 
kaiak  stand.3  He  calls  the  great  Greenland  and 
Hudson  Bay  harpoon,  thrown  from  the  hand  with- 
out the  throwing  stick,  Sigagut.  In  the  work  above 
referred  to  a  spirited  description  of  the  harpoon 
and  its  accessories  will  be  found  (pp.  62-64),  with 
figures. 

Before  giving  in  detail  the  structure  of  the  west- 
ern Greenland  harpoon,  attention  must  again  be 
called  to  the  difficulty  of  making  neat  distinctions. 
Recent  explorations  b}7  Peary  especially  assign 
Smith  Sound  material  to  the  Central  Eskimo;  at 
least  it  is  intermediate.  The  constancy  of  iron  in 
the  oldest  specimens  also  demands  that  no  hasty  con- 
clusions be  drawn  concerning  the  original  Eskimo 
harpoon,  either  as  to  its  design  or  ornamentation. 

A  toggle  head  from  Greenland  (Cat.  No.  9836, 
U.S.N.M.),  with  a  triangular  blade  of  iron  slightly 
barbed  on  one  corner,  fastened  into  the  slit  by  a 
rivet  of  iron,  is  shown  in  fig.  24.  The  body  is 
conical;  the  line  hole  is  cut  across  the  body  and 
across  the  plane  of  the  blade.  It  is  an  elliptical 
opening,  and  its  diameter  is  not  in  a  line  with  the 
axis  of  the  body.  It  has  one  spur  for  a  barb,  and  the  socket  for  the 
foreshaft  is  wide  and  shallow.  It  is  the  gift  of  S.  F.  Baird. 

A  modern  toggle  head  of  a  whale  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  19510,  U.S.N.M.), 
from  Greenland,  is  seen  in  fig.  25.  This  unfinished  specimen  shows 
the  last  step  in  the  development  of  the  machine-made  toggle  head. 
Everything  about  the  specimen  demonstrates  this — the  mathematical 
form,  the  saw  cut  for  the  blade,  the  socket  for  the  foreshaft,  the  angu- 
lar barb,  and  especially  the  large  line  hole  cut  straight  across  the  body 
of  the  toggle  head.  In  the  primitive  examples  this  last  feature  cost 

1  Egede's  Greenland,  pp.  102-106. 

2  Nansen,  Across  Greenland,  1893,  p.  37. 
3 Idem.,  p.  33. 


Fig.  24. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Collected    by  S.  V.  Baird. 

Cat.  No.  9836.  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  5, 


SEAL  HARPOON  FROM  WEST  GREENLAND. 

Collected  by  N.  P.  Scudder. 

Cat.  No.  35670,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


241 


the  maker  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  He  had  to  bore  two  holes  slanting 
toward  each  other  and  meeting  inside,  to  unite  these  by  removing  the 
rough  surface,  and  to  separately  prepare  grooves  to  receive  the  line. 
This  is  the  gift  of  J.  H.  Clark. 

Plate  5  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  complete  seal  harpoon 
from  west  Greenland  (Cat.  No.  35670).  The  head  is  a  combination 
of  barb  and  toggle,  sagittate  in  outline,  with  a  slender  waist  and  wide 
base;  a  very  gracefully-made  specimen.  The  blade  is  rhomboidal,  but 
squared  off  in  the  saw  cut  and  riveted  with  iron.  The  oblong  line  hole 
passes  straight  through  the  waist  and 
has  slight  line  grooves. 

There  are  three  barbs.  Those  on 
the  side  are  angular,  prominent,  and 
sawed  out,  so  as  to  present  'three 
flat  surfaces  inside;  the  terminal  barb 
angular,  formed  by  the  two  sloping 
faces  of  the  back  and  the  beveled  sur- 
face of  the  butt;  socket  for  the  end 
of  the  foreshaft  narrow  and  clean 
cut.  The  butt  end  has  no  bend  or 
curve  in  it,  but  is  formed  by  a  single 
cut  in  the  same  plane. 

The  line  is  drawn  through  the  line 
hole,  bent,  and  the  end  fastened  down 
6  inches  from  the  toggle  head,  and 
held  fast  by  a  seizing  of  sinew  three- 
ply  braid,  laid  on  for  an  inch  in  half 
hitches. 

At  a  distance  of  50  inches  from  the 
toggle  head  is  an  eyelet  of  bone,  1£ 
inches  long  and  half  an  inch  wide,  hav- 
ing rectangular  outline  and  pierced 
with  three  holes,  through  one  of 
which  the  line  runs.  Just  beyond 
this  eyelet  is  a  wrapping  of  sinew 
string  acting  as  a  stop.  The  whole  line  is  over  30  feet  long  and  termi- 
nates in  a  toggle  of  reindeer  antler,  with  a  knob  at  one  end  and  a 
bifurcation  at  the  other  end.  This  is  to  hook  into  a  loop  in  the  line  of 
the  float,  to  be  now  described. 

The  hide  of  a  young  seal  was  drawn  off  over  the  neck,  care  being 
taken  to  keep  the  legs  and  other  parts  complete.  After  being  turned 
right  side  out,  the  hide  was  sweated,  depilated,  and  again  turned  wrong 
side  out  and  all  openings  carefully  fastened  up  air-tight.  But  into  the 
puckered  orifice  of  the  neck  a  stout  rawhide  loop  was  inserted  and  made 
fast  and  into  one  forefoot  a  bone  mouthpiece  was  firmly  lashed.  About 


25. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Collected  by  J.  H.  Clark.    Cat.  No.  19510,  U.S.N.M. 


242  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

this  specimen,  as  on  many  other  floats,  little  holes  were  stopped  by  studs 
of  wood  or  hard  animal  substance,  set  in  when  the  hide  was  green,  which, 
shrinking,  renders  the  joint  perfectly  tight.  As  mentioned,  into  the 
puckered  neck  of  the  float  was  knotted  a  bend  or  loop  6  inches  long. 
This  would  serve  as  a  handle  and  be  inseparable  from  the  float.  A 
stout  piece  of  rawhide  line,  3  or  4  feet  long,  was  bent  to  form  a  loop 
at  each  end.  Into  one  loop  the  float-loop  was  spliced,  and  into  the  one 
on  the  other  end  of  the  line  the  toggle  of  the  harpoon  line  hooks.  The 
bends  in  the  ends  of  the  short  float  line  are  seized  down  by  means  of 
sinew  braid  in  half  hitches.  The  float  is  always  associated  with  the 
kaiak.  and  therefore  it  has  attachments  for  it,  as  well  as  for  the  line. 
In  the  end  of  the  float,  where  the  float  loop  is  fastened,  and  on  either 
side  of  the  latter,  two  short  rawhide  lines  are  inserted  and  made  fast 
on  the  inside.  These  short  pieces  are  run  into  the  ends  of  a  device. 
made  from  two  pieces  of  antler,  for  slipping  under  one  of  the  cross 
lines  on  the  deck  of  the  kaiak.  For  this  purpose  a  hole  was  bored  up 
in  the  end  of  each  one  of  these  pieces  1  inch,  met  by  a  hole  bored  half 
way  in  at  the  side,  and  half  an  inch  above  another  hole  was  bored  quite 
through.  The  line  from  the  float  is  drawn  up  the  hole  at  the  end,  out 
at  the  meeting  hole,  and  through  the  upper  hole,  where  it  is  fastened 
with  a  peg,  the  two  holes  being  united  on  the  outside  by  a  countersink 
to  prevent  abrasion  by  ice.  A  wooden  peg  wedges  the  line  fast  in  the 
inner  hole.  The  two  front  ends  of  the  pieces  of  antler  are  united  by 
an  iron  rivet.  These  details  are  mentioned  to  call  attention  to  the 
cunning  makeshifts  of  savages  working  with  the  poorest  tools.  The 
maxim,  "Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way,"  is  quite  true  among  the 
Eskimo. 

The  shaft  is  a  typical  Greenland  form  and  consists  of  loose  shaft 
and  rawhide  hinge  or  connecting  line,  foreshaft,  shaft,  and  "feathers."' 

The  loose  shaft  is  an  elongated  cone  of  ivory  7i  inches  in  length, 
having  at  a  distance  of  1  inch  from  the  butt  a  raised  ornament  of 
rings  and  bands  turned  as  in  a  lathe,  the  middle  band  with  cross  ridges. 
Two  holes  are  bored,  one  above  the  other,  through  this  ornament,  and 
three  holes  through  the  fore  end  of  the  wooden  shaft  for  the  rawhide 
thong  that  forms  the  elastic  joint  between  loose  shaft  and  foreshaft. 
This  thong  is  doubled  at  its  widest  end  and  the  whole  drawn  through 
one  of  the  shaft  holes,  not  tightly;  it  passes  (1)  through  the  lower  hole 
of  the  loose  shaft,  (2)  back  through  a  hole  in  the  shaft,  (3)  up  through 
the  outer  hole  in  the  loose  shaft,  (4)  back  through  the  loop  in  the  first 
end,  then  through  the  third  hole  of  the  shaft  and  once  wrapped  around, 
the  end  being  tucked  under  as  in  making  a  single  knot  after  the  whole 
is  drawn  as  tight  as  possible. 

The  base  of  the  loose  shaft  is  squared  off  and  socketed.  The  fore- 
shaft  is  only  half  an  inch  long,  but  forms  an  ellipse  1£  by  li  inches  in 
diameter.  It  has  a  pivot  or  projection  on  top  to  fit  into  the  socket  of 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  243 

the  loose  shaft  and  is  excavated  below  to  fit  over  a  tenon  in  the  end  of 
the  wooden  shaft,  which  is  kept  from  splitting-  by  a  wrapping  of  sinew 
twine. 

The  shaft,  of  pine  wood,  5  feet  2  inches  long  and  1^  inches  thick, 
tapers  somewhat  toward  the  butt  end.  Upon  it  are  the  following 
additions:  Buttons  for  holding1- the  shaft  on  the  kaiak,  peg  over  which 
the  eyelet  on  the  line  catches  to  hold  the  head  on  the  loose  shaft,  two 
pegs  for  the  throwing  stick,  and  bone  feathers. 

The  buttons  for  holding  the  apparatus  on  the  kaiak  are  two  little 
almond-shaped  bits  of  ivory,  attached  to  the  shaft  near  either  end  by 
means  of  a  short  rawhide  thong.  These  buttons  are  tucked  under  the 
cross  lines  on  the  deck  of  the  kaiak,  but  on  occasion  do  not  offer  any 
ratchet  to  prevent  withdrawal.  The  throwing  stick  pegs  for  the  two 
holes  in  that  apparatus  are  of  bone  and  extend  quite  through  the  shaft 
near  either  end.  The  west  Greenland  shaft  for  the  seal  harpoon  is 
unique  in  having  the  pegs  on  the  shaft  and  not  on  the  throwing  stick. 

The  butt  end  of  the  shaft  is  squared  for  the  attachment  of  the  two 
"  feathers  "  carved  from  whale's  bone.  The  end  of  the  shaft  is  beveled 
off  and  grooved. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  as  a  rule  the  North  American  Indians 
have  three  feathers  on  their  arrows,  radiating  outward;  the  Eskimo 
have  two,  laid  flat  on  the  flat  shaftment.  Now  on  the  west  Greenland 
smaller  harpoon,  at  either  side  of  the  butt,  is  a  strip  of  whale's  bone 
16  inches  Jong,  from  H  inches  wide,  and  one-eighth  inch  thick,  both 
exactly  alike,  with  long  leaf -shaped  outline  terminating  in  a  fish-tail 
bifurcation.  These  two  plates  are  pegged  on  for  5  to  6  inches,  so  that 
their  outsides  are  flush  with  the  shaft,  and  their  butt  ends  are  held 
apart  in  place  by  an  ivory  peg  or  cylinder.  The  area  of  this  device  or 
attachment  is  very  circumscribed.  It  is  not  shown  by  Boas,  Kumlien, 
or  Turner.  The  throwing  stick  is  of  light,  coniferous  wood,  very 
broad  in  the  manual  part  and  tapering  gracefully  toward  the  working 
end.  The  top  is  slightly  rounded  up,  the  bottom  of  two  surfaces  meet- 
ing in  a  ridge  along  the  middle.  The  shaft  groove  is  an  inch  wide  and 
from  one-fourth  to  one-eighth  inch  deep,  extending  the  entire  length 
of  the  piece.  It  is  rigiit-handed,  having  a  deep  under-cut  notch  on  the 
left  margin  for  the  thumb,  just  back  of  which  on  the  margin  is  a  pretty 
bit  of  bone  pegged  on.  The  hole  in  the  manual  part  for  the  peg  has 
in  front  of  it  a  washer  of  bone  set  in  to  prevent  the  peg  from  wearing 
the  hole  larger.  Into  the  working  end  of  the  throwing  stick  is  neatly 
set  a  T-shaped  bit  of  whale's  bone,  held  in  place  by  pegs  quite  through 
both  bone  and  wood.  At  the  outer  end  of  this  bone  is  a  large  hole 
slanting  forward  and  into  it  the  rear  peg  on  the  shaft  fits.  When 
pulled  straight  ahead  the  hook  holds  firmly,  but  when  the  throwing 
stick  begins  to  turn  away  from  the  shaft  the  hole  unhinges  from  the 
peg.  All  this  action  with  least  resistance  is  provided  for  in  the 
device.  Collected  by  N.  P.  Scudder. 


244 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 


A  flat  toggle  head  (No.  45855,  U.S.N.M.)  with  a  gibbous  section  has 
the  back  more  compressed  than  the  belly.  The  front  end  is  rounded, 
the  blade  slit  not  deep,  and  rivet  hole  large.  The  line  hole  is  curved 
upward  and  has  deep  line  grooves.  Barbs,  two  on  the  outer  margins, 
formed  by  a  slightly  incurved  cut  into  the  butt  end.  The  butt  is 
whittled  away  so  that  the  toggle  head  is  just  as  long  on  the  belly  as  on 
the  back.  Length,  3  inches.  Gift  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum. 
Example  63951,  gift  of  Governor  Fenckner,  is  somewhat  similar,  but 

the  back  is  longer  and  the 
notch  between  the  tips  of 
the  barbs  is  not  angular. 

Example  No.  45670  in  the 
U.  S.  National  Museum  is 
the  point  of  a  large  har- 
poon from  Greenland.  The 
blade,  of  iron,  was  inserted 
in  a  saw  cut  in  the  end  of 
the  shank  and  riveted  with 
iron,  now  decayed  .by  rust. 
The  shank,  of  whale's  rib, 
is  rectangular  in  the  section 
at  the  front  and  circular 
other  parts.  Between 


in 

the  rectangular  and  circu- 
lar portions  are  four  barbs. 
At  the  angles  the  butt  end 
is  conical  to  fit  into  a  socket. 
In  the  end  of  the  shaft,  3 
inches  above,  two  holes  are 
pierced  for  the  insertion  of 
a  thong  forming  a  hinge 
between  the  loose  shaft  and 
the  shaft.  Total  length,  15f 
inches.  Gift  of  the  Copen- 
and  unfinished  specimen  of 


Fig.  26. 

TOGGLE  AND   BAKBED  HARPOON   HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 
Gift  of  Copenhagen  Museum.    Cat.  No.  45883.  U.S.N.M. 


No.  63939  is  a  broken 


hagen  Museum, 
the  same  type. 

Example  No.  45872  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  the  loose  shaft 
and  point  of  a  barbed  harpoon  combined,  from  south  Greenland.  The 
front  end  is  furnished  with  two  barbs  on  one  side  and  the  top  is 
pointed.  The  butt  end  is  cylindrical  to  fit  into  the  foreshaf t,  and  2 
inches  above  it  are  three  holes  bored  for  the  rawhide  thong  which 
attaches  this  part  to  the  shaft.  The  noticeable  feature  in  this  old 
piece  is  the  presence  of  the  barbs  on  the  loose  shaft  and  the  entire 
absence  of  toggle  attachments.  Length,  14  inches.  Gift  of  the 
Copenhagen  Museum. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


245 


Fig.  26  is  a  combined  toggle  and  barbed  harpoon  head  from  western 
Greenland  (No.  45883,  U.S.N.M.),  all  in  one  piece  of  antler.  The 
body  is  narrow  and  flat,  the  spongy  part  of  the  material  being  the  back 
of  the  implement,  while  the  belly,  which  takes  the  strain  of  the  line, 
is  the  outside  hard  portion  of  the  antler.  For  a  blade,  the  fore  end 
was  sharpened  to  a  point.  There  is  no  evidence  of  a  metal  blade  hav- 
ing been  used  in  this  head.  The  line  hole  is  formed  b}T  two  slanting 
holes  meeting  on  the  back  of  the  body,  so  as  to  leave  a  small  opening 
on  the  back,  a  feature  not  common  in  Greenland  specimens,  but 
observed  in  many  from  the  Amur  region  (Plate  7).  The  line  grooves 
extend  only  half  an  inch  backward,  and  then  suddenly  terminate. 
Originally  there  were  doubtless  three  barbs;  one,  a  strong  hook  on  the 
left-hand  margin  between  the  point  and  the  line 
hole,  and  two  barbs  at  the  butt,  spread  out  like 
a  fish  tail,  the  tips  being  cut  in  an  ornamental 
manner  (see  Plate  8,  from  Von  Schrenk).  The 
socket  for  the  foreshaft  is  only  three-fourths  of 
an  inch  deep.  The  butt  end  is  cut  off  with  a 
long  bevel,  steep  on  its  lower  half  and  sloping 
more  and  more  outward.  Length,  4i  inches. 
Collected  lr^  Dr.  Emil  Bessels,  but  special  local- 
ity not  given. 

A  toggle  head  of  bone  from  western  Green- 
land (No.  45884,  U.S.N.M),  conoid  in  form  and 
double  convex  in  section,  is  shown  in  fig.  27. 
The  blade,  which  was  of  metal,  is  wanting,  and 
the  blade  slit  is  wide  for  such  a  small  specimen, 
the  rivet  hole  neatly  bored.  Line  hole,  of  two 
cone-shaped  cavities,  meeting  in  the  body  of  the 
implement,  and  having  slight  line  grooves. 
There  is  but  one  barb,  pointed  on  the  back,  a 
little  to  the  right-hand  side  of  the  middle.  The 
socket  for  the  end  of  the  foreshaft  is  cone-shaped. 
Length,  2i  inches.  Gift  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum.  This  speci- 
men, though  exceedingly  plain  in  shape,  does  not  mark  an  early  form 
of  toggle  harpoon  head,  but  a  later  period,  when  they  were  made  in 
great  numbers,  sometimes  by  machinery,  and  sold  to  the  Eskimo,  who 
found  it  easier  to  provide  themselves  in  this  wa,y  than  to  make  them 
by  their  rude  tools. 

An  old  toggle  head  of  a  harpoon  from  north  Greenland  (No.  45885, 
U.S.N.M.),  collected  by  Emil  Bessels,  is  shown  in  fig.  28. 

The  body  is  of  bone,  the  back  nearly  flat,  being  the  soft  part  of  the 
material,  and  the  belly,  which  is  more  rounded,  is  of  the  outer,  hard 
part  of  the  bone,  this  being  necessary  in  order  to  take  the  strain  of 
the  line. 

NAT  MUS  1900 17 


Fig.  '27. 

TOGGLE  HEAP. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift   of   Copenhagen   Museum. 

Cat.  No.  45884,  U.S.N.M. 


246 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


The  blade  in  this  example  is  missing,  and  was  inserted  in  a  saw  cut 

at  the  rounded  end  of  the  body  and  held  in  place  by  a  rivet. 

The  shaft  socket  is  a  conical  hole  centered  between  the  back  and  the 

front  surfaces  and  flanked  by  barbs 
whose  points  are  formed  by  the  meeting 
of  the  back,  the  belly,  and  the  socket  or 
excavation  in  the  rear  for  the  foreshaft. 
The  line  hole  is  formed  by  the  meet- 
ing of  two  holes  bored  in  from  the  under 
side  and  not  quite  through  to  the  top. 
Line  grooves  project  backward  from 
the  line  hole  so  as  to  render  all  smooth 
to  prevent  the  thong  from  chafing. 
Length,  2J  inches. 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  head 
(Cat.  No.  45886,  U.S.N.M.)  from  west 
Greenland  is  shown  in  fig.  29,  and  is  a 
gift  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum.  The 
body  is  of  bone,  the  back  being  formed 
of  the  hard  or  outside  portion.  The 
kerf  for  the  blade 
is  wide,  and  the 
latter,  missing  in 
this  specimen, was 
fastened  in  with  a 
rivet.  On  either 
side  of  the  blade 

are  two  marginal  barbs,  cut  out  squarely  as  with 

a  saw;  from  the  tang  of  these  barbs  the  body 

widens  out  to  the  tip  end  of  the  spur  or  flukes. 

The  line  hole  is  formed  by  two  distinct  conical 

bores,  which  meet   at  their  inner  extremities, 

forming  at  the  same  time  a  continuous  cavity 

and  line  grooves.     The  butt  is  bifurcated,  and 

the  cavity  for  the  end  of  the  foreshaft  seems  to 

have  been  bored  out  after  the  barbs  were  formed. 

This  fine  old  piece  is  worthy  of  note  in  that  both 

types  of  harpoon  head,  the  barbed  and  the  tog- 
gle, are  preserved.      The  specimen  represents 

also  what  Murdoch  considers  to  be  the  original 

form,  since  the  barbs,  the  blade,  and  the  line 

hole  are  in  the  same  plane,  while  in  the  better  and  more  improved 

varieties  the  blade  is  set  in  at  right  angles  to  the  line  hole. 

A  barbed  harpoon  head  of  bone  (Cat.  No.  45887,  U.S.N.M.),  all  in 

one  piece,  from  northwestern  Greenland,  is  shown  in  fig.  30.     It  is 


Fig.  28. 

OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

North  Greenland. 

Collected  by  Emil  Bessels.    Cat.  No.  45885, 
U.S.N.M. 


OLD 


Fig.  29. 

BARBED     AND     TOGGLE 
HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift   of    Copenhagen    Museum. 

Cat.  No.  45886,  T.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


247 


Fig  30. 

BARBED  HAKPOON  HEAD. 

Northern  Greenland. 

Collected  by  Emil  Bessels.    Cat.  No.  45887. 
U.S.N.M. 


shaped  like  a  barbed  and  tanged  arrowhead,  with  a  line  hole  through 

the  tang  in  the  plane  of  the  blade.     The  tang  abuts  squarely  on  the 

end  of   the   shaft   and  the  front   of  the 

blade  is  sharpened  to  an  edge.    The  barbs 

are   not   of   equal    length.      Length,  If 

inches;  width,  1T5¥  inches.     From  Green- 
land.    Collected  by  Dr.  E.  Bessels. 
Cat.   No.  45888  (Fig.   31)  is  a  barbed 

head   of   whale's    rib,   but   there   is   not 

enough  remaining  to  indicate  whether  it 

had    toggle    attachments.      Length,    4i 

inches.     Gift  of  Copenhagen  Museum. 
These  old  pieces  are  most  interesting 

connecting  links  between  the  simple  barb 

and  the  toggle  head .  They  might  be  named 

conservative  harpoon  heads,  which,  while 

trying  the   new  device,  can  not  at  once 

lay   the    old 
barb     aside. 

A  toggle  harpoon  head  (No.  45889, 
U.S.N.M.)  from  western  Greenland,  made 
of  bone  all  in  one  piece,  is  shown  in  fig. 
32.  It  is  double  convex  in  section  and 
the  point  is  formed  by  shaving  down  the 
faces  of  the  body.  The  line  hole  passes 
through  the  bone  in  a  direction  perpen- 
dicular to  the  plane  of  the  blade,  and  the 
single  barb  is  formed  by  beveling  the 
end.  The  line  grooves  are  slight,  and  the 
cavity  for  the  shaft  large,  its  margin  con- 
tinuous. Length,  5£  inches;  width,  one- 
half  inch;  depth,  fifteen-sixteenths  inch. 
Gift  of  the  Museum  of  Ethnology,  Copen- 
hagen. An  entirely  aboriginal  form,  with 
no  metal  about  it.  From  this  it  is  not  to 
be  inferred  that  the  piece  antedates  the 
coming  of  the  whites. 

The  loose  shaft  of  a  toggle  harpoon 
(Cat.  No.  45893,  U.S.N.M.),  made  of  wood, 
from  south  Greenland,  deserves  consider- 
ation. It  is  spindle-shaped,  elongated  on 
one  end,  and  short  at  the  other,  elliptical 
in  cross  section.  Through  the  thickest 

portion  two  holes  are  bored  for  the  rawhide  thong  which  unites  it  to 

the  shaft.     Examples  of  this  part  of  the  harpoon  in  wood  are  very 

rare.     Length,  9i  inches.     Gift  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum. 


Fig.  31. 

OLD  HARPOON  HEAD. 

North  Greenland. 

Gift    of    Copenhagen   Museum.     Cat.    No. 
45888,  U.S.N.M. 


248 


EEPOKT   OF   NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 


An  ancient  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  45910,  U.S. 
N.M.),  made  from  a  bit  of  hollow  bone,  from  northern  Greenland,  col- 
lected by  E.  Bessels,  is  shown  in  fig.  33.  The  point  has  been  cut  off 
so  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  the  blade  was  set  on.  The  barbs  on 
the  margin  in  front  of  the  line  hole  have  been 
cut  out  squarely  but  their  points  have  evidently 
been  reduced.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  their 
present  form  represents  nearly  the  shape  of  the 
original  material.  At  this  point  it  is  proper  to 
make  an  observation  which  applies  very  largely 
to  the  forms  of  aboriginal  implements.  The 
savages  understood  how,  in  an  emergency,  to 
secure  the  largest  amount  of  result  with  the  least 
amount  of  effort.  It  is  with  inventions  as  with 
language.  A  long  word  is  not  employed  when 
a  shorter  one  will  suffice,  and  a  servile  imita- 
tion of  any  type  specimen 
is  not  attempted  when  the 
result  can  be  reached  more 
directly.  Hence,  while  ob- 
jects of  a  certain  class  re- 
semble one  another  in  gen- 
eral, no  two  are  alike  in 
detail.  The  line  hole  is  cut 
through  the  soft  part  of  the 
bone  by  two  conical  per- 
forations meeting  in  the 
middle,  and  the  line  grooves 
appear  to  have  been  made 
by  the  same  instrument. 
The  back  of  the  body  of 
this  toggle  head  is  very  hard  bone,  and  the  spur 
bends  upward  and  outward,  following  the  natural 
curve  of  the  material.  The  base  is  cut  off  by  a 
nearly  plane  surface.  The  socket  for  the  fore- 
shaft  is  a  cylindrical  hole  bored  straight  into 
the  bone  from  the  rear,  apparently  with  an 
instrument  of  iron.  It  is  not  conical  as  in  the 
great  majority  of  Eskimo  harpoon  heads. 

A  toggle  harpoon  head,  made  of  antler  (Cat. 
No.  4594T,  U.S.N.M.),  from  north  Greenland, 
the  gift  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum,  is  shown  in  fig.  34.  It  is  in  the 
form  of  a  flat  cone  with  convex  sides.  The  kerf  or  saw  cut  is  wider 
than  in  the  more  modern  examples,  because  the  blade  was  of  stone 
and  held  in  place  by  a  rivet  of  bone.  The  line  hole  is  most  primitive 


Fig.  32. 
TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Copenhagen  Museum. 

Cat.  No.  45889,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  33. 

OLD  BARBED  AND  TOGGLE 
HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Collected  hy  Emil  Bessels.    Cat. 

No.  45910,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


249 


and  interesting,  being  formed,  not  by  a  sloping  cavity,  but  by  means 
of  a  drill.  The  socket  at  the  base  is  also  conical,  opening  into  the  line 
hole,  and  two  barbs  of  equal  size  are  formed  by  cutting  awa\r  the 
material  of  the  back.  This  bifurcation  is  found  on  many  Greenland 
specimens.  Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  Eskimo  handicraft 
in  localities  where  steel  tools  do  not  abound  are  interested  to  note 
what  free  and  varied  use  these  natives  make  of  drills  of  different 
sizes.  There  are  twenty  examples  of  boring  on  this  little  toggle 
head,  for  the  rivet,  for  the  line  hole  grooves  and  socket,  and  besides 
for  mending  a  crack  in  the  material.  For  this  last  purpose  we  have 
not  only  perforations  for  the  sinew  mending,  but  gutters  bored  one 
twenty-fourth  of  an  inch  deep,  into  which  the  cord  was  countersunk. 
This  will  be  better  seen  by  an  examination  of  the  illustration. 


Fig.  34. 

OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

North  Greenland. 
Gift  of  Copenhagen  Museum.     Cat.  No.  45947,  U.S.N.M. 

The  point  of  a  barbed  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  63938,  U.S.N.M.),  from 
Greenland,  must  be  mentioned.  The  point  is  arrow-shaped,  symmet- 
rical, with  two  barbs.  The  tang  is  spindle-formed,  with  a  cone  at  the 
butt  end  and  pierced  in  two  places  for  the  insertion  of  the  line  connect- 
ing with  the  shaft.  Length,  5£  inches.  Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 

Similar  to  this  is  Cat.  No.  63937,  U.S.N.M.,  an  old  specimen  from 
the  same  locality.  These  examples  have  their  counterpart  in  the 
numerous  points  of  the  small  barbed  seal  harpoon  of  the  western 
Eskimo. 

An  old  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  63940,  U.S.N.M.) 
from  west  Greenland,  the  gift  of  Governor  Fenckner,  is  shown  in  fig. 
35.  The  material  is  bone.  The  blade  is  wanting,  and  the  blade  slit 
has  been  cut  away.  There  are  three  rivet  holes,  and  one  of  them, 


250  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

seen  on  the  right  side  of  the  left-hand  figure,  is  double.  The  barbs 
on  the  margin  are  cut  out  square,  as  with  a  saw,  but  the  sides  of  the 
tang  are  curved  in,  leaving  shoulders  at  their  base,  from  which  point 
the  body  curves  outward  to  the  end  of  the  spurs.  The  line  hole  is 
formed,  as  in  most  examples  of  this  kind,  by  two  independent  coni- 
cal bores  which  meet  at  their  inner  point.  Line  grooves  are  con- 
nected with  these.  The  base  is  not  cut  off  in  a  plane  surface,  but  has 
the  appearance  of  being  scooped  out,  beginning  on  the  under  side 
with  a  perpendicular  surface,  which  slopes  more  and  more  toward  the 


Fig.  35. 
OLD  BARBED  AND  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Cat.  No.  63940.  U.S.N.M. 


horizontal  as  the  ends  of  the  barbs  are  approached.  This  specimen  is 
noteworthy  for  conserving  the  two  types  of  harpoon  heads  in  one,  the 
barbs  on  the  sides,  and  the  toggle. 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (No.  63941,  U.S.N.M.) 
of  antler  from  Greenland  is  represented  in  fie1.  36.  It  is  rhomboid  in 
cross  section,  sagged  downward  in  the  middle,  and  delicately  made. 
The  blade,  of  iron,  formerly  present,  but  now  wanting,  was  held  in 
place  by  a  rivet.  The  line  hole,  formed  by  the  meeting  of  two  excava- 
tions, is  curved,  but  not  visible  on  the  back.  Line  grooves  short  and 
whittled  out.  Barbs,  three — two  in  front  of  the  line  hole  and  one  at 
the  butt.  The  barbs  on  the  margin  in  front  are  sharp  and  prominent 
for  such  a  small  specimen,  the  cut  of  each  being  three-sided.  The 
rear  barb  is  cocked  up  and  pointed,  and  its  edges  ornamented  each  with 


ABOKIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


251 


two  crenate  notches.     Butt  cut  off  at  a  sharp  angle,  nearly  in  a  single 

plane ;  socket  wide  and  shallow.     Between  the  line  holes  and  the  socket 

is  an  ingenious  combination  of  perforations  and  gutters  for  repairing. 

Length,  3f  inches.  Gift  of  Governor  Fenck- 

ner,  of  Greenland. 

Of  this  same  type  and  pattern,  but  ruder, 

is  Cat.  No.  45910,  from  Greenland,  made  of 

bone,  and  somewhat  dilapidated.     The  hard 

bone  forms  the  back,  and  the  excavations 

on  the  belly  are  in  the  spongy  portion;  the 

reverse  of  this  is  usualty  true.     The  slight 

barbs  on  the  edges  are  quite  squarely  sawed 

out  and  the  single  barb  at  the  rear  much 

bent  upward.     Length,  3f  inches.  •  Gift  of 

the  Copenhagen  Museum. 

A  c6mbined  barbed  and  toggle  head  (Cat. 

No.    63942,    U.S.N.M.)    from    Greenland, 

made  of  bone,  is  shown  in  fig.  37.  Body 
flat  on  the  belly, 
and  conformed  to  the 
shape  of  the  mate- 
rial on  the  back;  an 
unwise  method,  be- 
cause in  this  case  the 
spongy  tissue  has  to 
take  the  strain.  Sep- 
arate blade,  none,  the 
material  being  sharp- 
ened to  a  point  and 

edge.  Line  holes  small,  set  at  an  extraordi- 
narily acute  angle  to  each  other  and  barely  con- 
tinued through  to  the  back.  Line  grooves 
scarcely  visible.  Barbs,  four — two  broad,  angu- 
lar teeth  in  front,  one  on  either  side,  and  two 
angular  toothed  projections  behind.  Socket 
shallow  and  wide.  Butt  end  gouged  or  dished 
out,  so  as  to  give  free  play  to  the  loose  shaft, 
and  leaving  the  barbs,  looking  from  the  under 
side,  like  a  pair  of  fins.  Length,  4  inches.  Col- 
lected by  Governor  Fenckner.  With  this  exam- 
ple should  be  compared  Nos.  63940  and  45886— 

the  former  of  whale's  rib,  the  latter  of  antler.     Both  these  examples 

are  of  the  same  general  pattern,  but  have  had  iron  blades.    It  should 

be  noted  as  a  local  peculiarity  that  the  former  has  a  three-sided  notch 

at  the  front  barbs,  the  latter  only  a  two-sided  notch. 

A  toggle  head  of  ivory  (Cat.  No.  63943,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Greenland, 


Fig.  36. 

BARBED  AND  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat.  No. 
63941,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  37. 
BARBED    AND    TOGGLE    HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat. 
No.  63942,  U.S.N.M. 


252 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 


in  shape  of  a  compressed  cone,  elliptical  in  section,  narrow  and  sharp 
at  the  point,  is  shown  in  fig.  38.  The  blade,  of  iron,  is  much  rusted  and 
held  in  by  an  iron  rivet.  Line  hole  straight  through  the  sides  in  a 
plane  parallel  to  the  blade.  Line  grooves  short  and  slight.  There  is 
one  barb  terminating  the  back,  but  slightly  bifurcated.  The  socket  for 
the  foreshaft  is  wide  and  shallow  and  the  butt  end  whittled  off  with  a 
slight  incurve.  Length,  3f  inches.  Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 
Example  63944  is  broken,  but  similar,  the  butt-end 
curve  being  deeper  and  the  tip  not  bifurcated  (fig.  39). 
A  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  63945,  U.S.N.M.) 


Fig.  38. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 

Cat.  No.  63943,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  39. 
OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.     Cat. 

No.  63944,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  40. 
OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat.  No.  63945, 
U.S.N.M. 


from  Greenland,  made  of  bone  and  iron,  is  shown  in  fig.  40.  The 
body  is  conoidal,  the  hastate  iron  blade  being  inserted  into  a  saw  cut 
in  the  pointed  end  and  held  by  a  copper  rivet.  The  line  hole  lies 
parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  blade;  line  grooves  slight.  The  barb  is 
bisected  by  the  plane  of  the  blade,  as  in  many  older  specimens,  but 
this  sets  the  line  hole  perpendicular  and  entirely  on  the  right  face  of 
the  body.  It  is  possible  that  the  specimen  had  formerly  two  barbs. 
Shaft  cavity  cut  off  square  below,  the  spur-like  barb  extending  back- 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


258 


ward  and  upward.  Length,  3£  inches;  width  or  thickness  through 
line  hole,  seven-eighths  inch;  depth,  five-eighths 
inch.  Gift  of  Governer  Fenckner.  Similar  to.  this 
specimen  is  Cat.  No.  63949  (fig.  41),  of  bone,  in 
form  of  a  flat  hexagonal  prism,  the  point  abruptly 
cut  off.  Line  holes  cut  upward  through  the  two 
lower  faces.  In  this  example  the  spur  is  on  the 
left-hand  side,  if  the  line  hole  be  taken  as  under- 
neath. It  is  a  little  difficult  to  understand  how 
such  an  implement  would  toggle  and  hold.  Length 


of  63949,  2J-  inches. 


Gift  of  Governor 


Greenland. 
Fenckner. 

An  old  toggle  harpoon  head 
(Cat.  No.  63046,  U.S.N.M.), 
from  west  Greenland,  made  of 
bone  all  in  one  piece,  in  section 
a  rounded  triangle,  is  shown  in 
fig.  42.  The  blade  is  formed 
by  whittling  the  material  to 
a  pyramidal  point  with  four 
faces.  The  line  hole  is  bored 
straight  through  in  the  plane 
of  the  blade,  enlarged  and  the 
tied  down  for  line  grooves. 
Barbs,  two,  in  fish-tail  pat- 
tern on  the  back.  Socket, 
three  -  fourths  inch  deep  ; 
butt,  whittled  out  with  slight 
incurve;  length,  2f  inches. 
Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 
Example  63947  (fig.  43), 
from  the  same  locality,  is 
a  modern  specimen  of  bone, 
on  the  same  order,  but  an 
iron  blade  was  inserted  at  the  point.  The 
line-hole  cavities  pierce  the  back,  the  grooves 
are  deeper,  and  the  butt  end  is  scooped  out. 
Length  of  63947  is  2f  inches;  from  Greenland. 
Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner, 

A  toggle  head  from  western  Greenland  (Cat. 
No.  63948,  U.S.N.M.),  in  shape  of  a  long  rect- 
angular pyramid  with  rectangular  cones,  is 
shown  in  fig.  44.  Point  formed  by  whittling 
down  the  sides.  The  blade  slit  lies  in  the  plane 
of  the  long  diagonal  of  the  body.  Line  hole 


Fig.  42. 

SMALL  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fencknei 

Cat.  No.  63946,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  41. 
TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 

Cat.  No.  63949,  U.S.N.M. 

rear  edges  whit- 


43. 
OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat 

No.  63947,  U.S.N.M. 


254 


REPORT   OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


Fig.  44. 

OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat.  No. 
63948,  U.S.N.M. 


run  in  perpendicular  to  the  two  lower  sides  or  faces,  having  slight  line 

grooves.  Barbs  two,  one  on  the  right  mar- 
gin, one  on  the  left,  their  tips  lying  in  the 
bisecting  plane  of  the  toggle  head.  Socket 
extending  into  the  line  hole.  Butt  end  whit- 
tled away  equally  above  and  below.  Length, 
2f  inches.  Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.  Cat. 
No.  63950  is  of  the  same  type,  2J  inches  long. 
A  grave  relic  (Cat.  No.  63950,  U.S.N.M.) 
representing  a  small  toggle  head  of  a  harpoon 
from  Greenland,  the  gift  of  Governor  Fenck- 
ner, is  shown  in  fig.  45. 

The  body,  rhomboidal  in  section,  the  back 
and  front  being  about 
alike,  is  made  of  a  seg- 
ment from  the  co- 
lumnar portion  of  a 
bone.  The  fact  that 
both  sides  are  equally 
hard  necessitates  the 
forming  of  the  shaft 
socket  in  the  hollow 
part  of  the  bone.  The 

barbs  are  cut  out  of  the  two  angles  or  wings 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  body.  The  line  hole 
is  interesting,  being  ef- 
fected by  cutting  two 
holes  perpendicularly 
into  the  two  faces  of  SMALL  JGGLE  HEAD. 
the  belly,  meeting  in  west  Greenland. 

the     hollow  part  Of  the     Gift   of   Governor  Fenckner.     Oat. 

»*       «        •*   .1  .  No.  63950,  U.S.N.M. 

bone.    Each  of  these  is 

flanked  with  a  shallow  gutter  in  which  lies  the 

line.     The  forming  of  a  toggle  head  out  of  the 

middle  column  of  a  bone  instead  of  a  piece  of 

ivory,  antler,  or  solid  bone  is  rare.     Length,  2 

inches. 

An  old  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  63951,U.S.N.M.) 
from  west  Greenland  is  shown  in  fig.  46.  The 
point  has  been  broken  off,  but  enough  is  left 
to  show  a  small  portion  of  the  blade  slit.  It 
belongs  to  the  type  of  specimen  45855,  and 
the  socket  in  the  base  for  the  foreshaft  is 
flanked  by  two  equal  barbs.  A  common  type  in  harpoon  heads  from 
this  area.  The  line  hole  on  the  end  sid<  is  formed  by  the  meeting  of 


Fig.  46. 
OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 
Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner.    Cat- 
No.  63951.  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


255 


Fig.  47. 

SMALL  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

West  Greenland. 

Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner 

Cat.  No.  63952,  U.S.N.M. 


two  conical  bores,  afterwards  smoothed  down  so  as  not  to  injure  the 
line.  This  method  of  forming  the  hole  by  the  meet- 
ing of  two  separate  cones  is  well 
known  to  students  of  archaeology. 
Four  small  perforations  are  seen 
between  the  line  hole  and  the 
socket,  drilled  for  the  purpose  of 
stopping  the  further  opening  of  a 
crack  in  the  base. 

A  small  toggle  head  of  bone  (Cat. 
No.  63952,  U.S.N.M.),  blackened 
by  age,  from  west  Greenland  is 
shown  in  fig.  47.  It  is  square  in 
cross  section,  one*  angle  extending 
from  tip  of  the  point  to  tip  of  the 
barb  and  having  a  pyramidal  point. 
There  is  no  blade.  Line  holes 
bored  straight  in  from  the  two 
lower  surfaces,  line  grooves  short 
and  deep.  Barb  one,  socket  half 
an  inch  deep,  butt  end  beveled  off  diagonally  from 
lower  edge  to  upper  edge.  Length,  2J  inches.  Col- 
lected by  Governor  Fenckner. 

Cat.  No.  63963  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a 
harpoon  of  bone  from  southwestern  Greenland.  It 
consists  of  two  parts,  the  shank  and  the  hinged 
toggle.  The  shank  is  pierced  at  one  end  to  act  as  a 
hinge  and  at  the  other  end  in  two  places  for  the 
attachment  of  a  shaft.  The  toggle  is  spindle  shaped, 
hollowed  on  one  side,  and  pierced  with  three  holes  to 
facilitate  the  hinging.  This  specimen  is  evidently  an 
imitation  or  adaptation  in  bone  of  the  iron  fluke  in 
the  harpoons  of  the  whalers.  Length  of  shank,  4i 
inches.  Gift  of  Governor  Fenckner. 

The  smaller  harpoon  shaft  (Cat.  No.  72566, 
U.S.N.M.),  from  southern  Greenland,  is  illustrated 
in  figs.  48  and  49.  This  figure  is  introduced  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  details  of  the  shaft,  which  are 
quite  local.  The  loose  shaft  is  made  of  bone  or  ivory, 
square  at  the  base  and  socketed  to  fit  over  a  small  pro- 
jection on  the  foreshaf t.  Two  holes  are  bored  through 
the  former,  and  through  these  and  two  in  the  end  of 
the  shaft  a  stout  rawhide  thong  passes  and  is  tightly 
drawn  to  form  an  elastic  spring,  useful  in  the  ship- 
ping and  unshipping  of  the  loose  shaft.  What  answers  to  the  foreshaf  t 


Fig.  48. 

SHAFT     OF    SMALLER 
HARPOON. 

South  Greenland. 

Collected  by  Chief  Sig- 
nal Officer,  U.  S.  A. 
Cat.  No.  72566,  U.S.N.M. 


256 


BEPOBT    OF    NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 


in  this  specimen  is  simply  a  cap  of  ivory  with  a  little  projection  on  the 
top.  The  hinging  line  is  not  attached  to  it  in  any  way.  The  ivory 
pegs  driven  into  the  shaft  near  its  lower  end  are  for  the  throwing 
stick,  which  is  peculiar  to  this  region,  and  for  the  eyelets  used  in 
tightening  the  line  when  the  toggle  is  in  place  and  ready  for  action. 

Especial  attention  is  drawn  to  the  lower  end  of 
the  shaft,  on  which  are  pegged  or  riveted  two  plates 
of  ivory,  which  not  only  resemble  feathers  on  an 
arrow,  but  must  perform  a  similar  function.  The 
foreshaft  is  so  light  that  it  could  be  of  little  use  in 
giving  directness  to  the  flight  of  the  weapon,  but 
the  feathers  of  ivory  fastened  on  at  the  end  would 
remedy  this  defect  and  steady  the  shaft  in  the  air. 
It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  existence  of  these 
plates  of  ivory  on  the  base  of  the  shaft  is  an  indica- 
tion of  the  descent  of  the  harpoon  from  the  arrow. 

A  kaiak  lance  (Cat.  No.  74126,  U.S.N.M.)  from 
Holstenberg,  Greenland,  was  col- 
lected by  Capt.  J.  W.  Collins. 
The  shaft  is  of  pine  wood,  ellipti- 
cal in  section,  tapering  in  both 
directions  from  the  hand  rest  and 
at  the  front,  and  swells  out  to  fit 
neatly  the  foreshaft  or  cap  of 
bone.  Upon  the  narrow  side  of 
the  shaft  in  front  of  the  middle 
portion  are  the  finger  rests,  which 
consist  of  a  peg  of  wood  driven  into  a  hole  on  one 
side  and  on  the  other  a  flat  portion  of  bone  set  in  a 
quadrangular  mortise,  and  having  at  the  outer  end 
on  one  side  a  groove  for  the  finger. 

The  piece  of  bone  corresponding  to  the  foreshaft 
is  not  more  than  half  an  inch  in  length,  perfectly 
flat  across  the  outer  end,  and  at  its  middle  portion 
is  a  slight  projection  or  pivot.     The  loose  shaft  is  of 
narwhal  tusk,  flattened  in  cross  section  and  mor- 
tised into  a  piece  of  bone  in  form  of  a  truncated 
cone.     Its  widest  portion,  with  a  slight  socket  in  the 
middle,  sits  flat  upon  the  cap  or  foreshaft.      This 
particular  combination  is  of  a  more  advanced  type 
than  the   ordinary  ball-and-socket  joint  with  the 
Cumberland  Sound  Eskimo,  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  these  Green- 
land Eskimo  have  been  for  many  centuries  in  contact  with  the  Scan- 
dinavians.    In  this  case  the  two  flattened  surfaces  cause  the  lashing  to 
act  as  a  spring  holding  the  foreshaft  or  blade  piece  straight  in  front 


Fig.  49. 

FORESHAFT  AND  LOOSE 
SHAFT  OF  FIGURE  48, 


Fig.  50. 

OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Upernavik,  Greenland. 

Collected  by  Theodore  Holm. 

Cat.  No.  130371.  U.S.N.M. 


ABOEIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


257 


of  the  shaft.  These  two  parts  are  united  by  means  of  a  bit  of  raw- 
hide passing  through  two  holes  in  the  foreshaf t 
and  three  holes  in  the  loose  shaft  a  foot  from 
the  end.  The  lashing  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
Cumberland  Sound  types,  with  slight  local  dif- 
ferences of  administration.  In  front  of  the 
blade  piece  is  the  blade  of  iron,  lanceolate  in 
form,  with  truncated  base  set  in  a  saw  cut  at 
the  tip  and  held  fast  by  a  copper  rivet.  This 
lance  is  for  stabbing  the  walrus  or  whale  at 
close  quarters  from  the  kaiak.  Length  of  shaft, 
62 inches;  loose  shaft,  8^  inches;  blade,  3^  inches. 
An  old  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  130371, 
U.S.N.M.)  from  Upernavik.  Greenland,  is 
shown  in  fig.  50.  It  has  an  iron  blade  riveted 
on  to  the  front  of  the  body,  parallel  to  its  | 

broadest  diameter.     The  line  holes  were  bored     I 

P- 

in  from  two   directions,  and   apparently  per-    % 
f orated  the  body  after  the  manner  of  the  toggle     | 
head  used  on  the  Amur  River  and  figured  in     j* 
Schrenck.     Length  of  body,  3f  inches.     Gift     fig 
of  Theodore  Holm. 

A  harpoon  for  killing  whales  (Cat.  No.  90103),     I  <  *• 
used  by  the  Little  Whale  River  Indians  on  the      '  £  > 
coast  of   Labrador,  is  shown  in  fig.  51.     The     |  g  8 
shaft  is  of  wood,  the  foreshaf  t  of  bone.     The     o  ?  : 
base  of  it  is  wedge-shaped,  and  fits  into  the  slit     £ 
at  the  end  of  the  shaft,  being  held  in  place     § 
by  a  lashing  of  sinew  cord.     On   the  end  of     | 
the  foreshaft  fits  the  toggle  head,  with  iron     g 
blade  held  fast  by  two  rivets.     The  body  of     •* 
the  toggle  head  is  rectangular  in  cross  section. 
The  line  hole  passes  through  the  sides  and  is 
not  seen  on  the  lower  part.     The  wide  barbed 
end  is  cut  into  three  or  four  tooth-shaped  parts. 
The  line  is  of  rawhide,  plaited.    The  peculiarity 
of  this  harpoon  is  a  board,  somewhat  circular 
in  form,  on  the  lower  end  of  the  shaft,  which 
acts  as  a  drag  to  the  wounded  animal,  in  place 
of  a  seal-skin  float.     The  line  passes  between 
this  board  and  the  shaft,  and  has  a  handle  or 
toggle  fastened  at  the  other  end  to  be  held  in     • 
the  hand  of  the  fisherman.1 

If  Hearne  be  correct,  the  Eskimo  west  of 


1  Lucien  Turner,  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo,  1894,  p.  314,  figs.  138,  139. 


258  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM^   1900. 

Hudson  Bay  have  no  other  method  of  catching  fish,  unless  it  be  by 
spears  and  darts;  for  no  appearance  of  nets  was  discovered  either  at 
their  tents  or  on  any  part  of  the  shore.  This  is  the  case  with  all  the 
Eskimo  on  the  west  side  of  Hudson  Bay;  spearing  in  summer  and  an- 
gling in  winter  are  the  only  methods  they  have  yet  devised  to  catch  fish, 
though  at  times  their  whole  dependence  for  support  is  on  that  article.  * 

HARPOONS   OF   THE   CENTRAL   ESKIMO. 

Coming  to  the  central  Eskimo,  Boas  says  of  them  that  they  inhabit 
the  northeastern  part  of  the  continent  and  the  eastern  islands  of  the 
Arctic- American  archipelago.  In  Smith  Sound  they  inhabit  the  most 
northern  countries  visited  by  man,  and  their  remains  are  often  found 
at  its  northern  outlet.  The  southern  and  western  boundaries  are  the 
countries  about  Fort  Churchill,  the  middle  part  of  Back  River,  and 
the  coast  west  of  Adelaide  Peninsula.2  In  this  monograph  will  be 
found  an  excellent  bibliography  of  that  area,  which  has  been  famous 
in  historic  times  for  the  efforts  made  there  to  find  the  northwest  pas- 
sage between  the  two  great  oceans. 

The  harpoon  or  principal  lance  (unahk,  Kane)  of  the  Eskimo  is 
attached  to  the  sealing  line.  The  rod  or  staff  is  divided  at  right  angles 
in  two  pieces,  which  are  neatly  jointed  or  hinged  with  tendon  strips, 
but  so  braced  by  the  manner  in  which  the  tendon  is  made  to  cross  and 
bind  in  the  lashing  that,  except  when  the  two  parts  are  severed  by 
lateral  pressure,  they  form  but  a  single  shaft.  The  point,  generally  an 
arrow-head  of  bone,  has  a  socket  to  receive  the  end  of  the  shaft;  it  dis- 
engages itself  readily  from  its  place,  but  still  remains  fast  to  the  line. 
Thus  when  the  kaiaker  has  struck  his  prey,  the  shaft  escapes  the  risk 
of  breaking  from  a  pull  against  the  grain  by  bending  at  the  joint,  and 
the  point  is  carried  free  by  the  animal  as  he  dives.  At  the  right  cen- 
ter of  gravity  of  the  harpoon,  that  point  at  which  a  cudgel  player 
would  grasp  his  staff,  a  neatly  arranged  cestus  or  holder  (noon-sok) 
fits  itself  on  the  shaft.  It  serves  to  give  the  kaiaker  a  good  grip  when 
casting  his  weapon,  but  slides  off  from  it  and  is  left  in  the  hand  at  the 
moment  of  drawing  back  his  arm.3 

In  the  weapons  used  for  killing  their  game  there  is  considerable 
variety,  according  to  the  animal  they  are  pursuing.  The  most  simple 
of  these  weapons  is  the  "oonak"  (Parry),  which  they  use  only  for 
killing  the  small  seal.  It  consists  of  a  light  staff  of  wood  4  feet  in 
length,  having  at  one  end  the  point  of  a  narwhal's  horn,  from  8  to  10 
inches  long,  firmly  secured  by  rivets  and  wooldings;  at  the  other  end 
is  a  smaller  and  less  effective  point  of  the  same  kind.  To  prevent 
losing  the  ivory  part,  in  case  of  the  wood  breaking,  a  stout  thong 

aHearne,  Journey,  etc.,  London,  1795,  p.  159. 

2  Franz  Boas,  The  Central  Eskimo,  1888,  p.  414. 

3  E.  K.  Kane,  The  Grinnell  Expedition,  New  York,  1854,  pp.  478  and  479. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  '259 

runs  along  the  whole  length  of  the  wood,  each  end  passing  through  a 
hole  in  the  ivory,  and  the  bight  secured  in  several  places  to  the  staff. 

A  considerable  degree  of  ingenuity  is  displayed  in  an  appendage 
called  "siatko,"  consisting  of  a  piece  of  bone  3  inches  long,  having  a 
point  of  iron  at  one  end  and  at  the  other  a  small  hole  or  socket  to 
receive  the  point  of  the  oonak.  Through  the  middle  of  this  instrument 
is  secured  the  allek,  or  line  of  thong,  of  which  every  man  has,  when 
sealing,  a  couple  of  coils,  each  from  4  to  6  fathoms  long,  hanging  at 
his  back.  These  are  made  of  the  skin  of  the  oguke,  as  in  Greenland, 
and  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  purpose,  both  on  account  of  strength 
and  the  property  which  they  possess  of  preserving  their  pliability  even 
in  the  most  intense  frost.1 

Formerly  the  harpoon  (unang,  Boas)  consisted  of  a  shaft  having  at 
one  end  an  ivory  point  firmly  attached  by  thongs  and  rivets,  the  point 
tapering  toward  the  end.  The  point  was  slanting  on  one  side,  so  as 
to  form  almost  an  oblique  cone.  Thus  it  facilitated  the  separation  of 
the  harpoon  "head  from  the  unang.  On  the  opposite  end  of  the  shaft 
another  piece  of  ivory  was  attached,  generally  forming  a  knob.  The 
material  used  in  making  the  shaft  was  wood,  bone,  or  ivory,  according 
to  the  region  in  which  it  was  manufactured.  In  Iglulik  and  in  Aggo 
the  narwhal's  horn  was  the  favorite  material  for  the  whole  implement, 
a  single  horn  being  sufficient  to  make  a  whole  shaft.  Wherever  wood 
could  be  procured  small  pieces  were  ingeniously  lashed  together.  As 
the  shaft  is  apt  to  be. broken  by  the  struggles  of  the  animal  when 
struck  by  the  weapon,  it  was  strengthened  by  a  stout  thong  running 
along  the  whole  length  of  the  shaft.2 

A  strange  method  of  hunting  is  reported  by  Ross2  as  practiced  by 
the  Netchillirmiut.  Eight  men  slowly  approached  the  basking  seal 
until  it  raised  its  head,  when  those  in  front  stopped  and  shouted  as 
loud  as  they  could,  pn  which  three  others  ran  up  with  incredible 
swiftness,  and  the  leader  struck  it  with  the  spear.3 

Boas  says  that  when  the  smaller  bays  are  sufficiently  frozen  to 
permit,  the  hunters  will  visit  the  edge  of  the  newly  formed  floe  in 
order  to  shoot  the  seals,  which  are  afterwards  secured  by  the  retriev- 
ing harpoon.4 

A  fine  old  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  8278)  from  Smith  Sound,  was  collected 
by  Dr.  I.  I.  Hayes.  The  body  is  of  ivory,  thin,  spatulate  in  form, 
and  lenticular  in  cross  section.  The  blade  of  iron  is  almost  concealed 
in  a  deep  saw  cut  and  fastened  with  an  iron  rivet.  The  line  hole  has 
been  bored  out  with  a  drill  that  was  too  small  and  enlarged  by  cutting. 
One  side  of  the  body  having  split  off,  and  the  other  side  cracked,  the 

1  Parry,  Second  Voyage,  London,  1824,  p.  507. 
2 Narrative,  etc.,  London,  1835,  II,  p.  451. 

3  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  485. 

4  Compare  Murdoch's  account  of  the  retrieving  harpoon,  Sixth  Annual  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  420. 


260 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


•i  I 


Eskimo  has  ingeniously  drilled  a  series  of  holes  along  the  margins  and 
repaired  the  socket  by  means  of  sealskin  thongs  rolled  backward  and 
forward.  The  line  in  this  case  is  a  coarse  thong  of  walrus  hide,  which 
is  looped  through  the  line  hole  and  fastened  by  a  wrapping  with  a 
smaller  thong,  in  which  the  Eskimo  has  exhausted 
his  ingenuity  by  a  variety  of  knots  and  splices. 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  of 
bone  (Cat.  No.  8279  U.S.N.M.)  from  Upernavik, 
Greenland,  is  shown  in  fig.  52.  Body  long,  irregular 
cylinder,  whose  diameter  varies  in  proportion  to  the 
strain  at  each  point,  cut  off  quite  abruptly  at  the  point. 
The  economy  of  material  is  noteworthy.  Blade  cut 
shallow;  iron  blade  broken  off,  but  its  lower  margin 
remains  in  the  cut,  held  in  place  by  means  of  an  iron 
rivet.  Line  hole  small,  curved  up  and  strengthened 
on  the  outside  by  an  additional  thickness  of  the  body. 
Line  .grooves  slight.  Barbs,  two,  the  front  one  a  very 
prominent  hook,  triangular 
underneath,  its  rear  margin 
also  a  shallow  hook  with 
rounded  edge.  In  this  respect 
the  specimen  is  unique  in  the 
U.  S.  National  Museum.  The 
rear  barb  is  cocked  up  and 
pointed.  In  the  tip  of  this 
barb  is  a  hole  half  an  inch 
deep,  and  three  small  perfo- 
rations for  rivets  are  to  be 
seen  above  it.  The  precise 
use  of  these  perforations  is  not  known.  Socket 
an  inch  deep,  the  butt  end  whittled  off  with  a 
slight  incurve.  Length,  6  inches;  diameter, 
three-fourths  inch.  Collected  by  Dr.  I.  I. 
Hayes. 

A  loose  head  of  a  lance  (Cat.  No.  lOlSft, 
U.S.N.M.)  is  given  in  fig.  53.  A  careful  in- 
spection of  this  specimen,  and  others  like  it, 
will  show  that  it  lacks  the  essential  qualities 
of  a  harpoon,  namely,  of  being  hinged  to  the 
end  of  the  shaft  and  of  retrieving.  There  is 
neither  barb  nor  toggle  on  this  specimen  or 

others  of  the  same  class.  The  hinged  lance,  either  in  the  form  of  a 
weapon  to  be  thrust  or  of  one  to  be  thrown  from  hand  or  bow  or 
throwing  stick,  is  exceedingly  rare.  Only  in  the  areas  where  immense 
sea  mammals  are  hunted  is  it  thought  necessary  to  guard  in  this  way 


Fig.  52. 

OLD  BARBED  AND  TOG- 
GLE HEAD. 

Upernavik,    Green- 

land. 

Collected  by  I.  1.  Hayes. 
Cat.  No.  8279,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  53. 
LOOSE  HEAD  OF  A  LANCE. 

Repulse  Bay. 

Collected  by  C.  F.  Hall.     Cat.  No. 
10136,  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900. —  Mason. 


PLATE  6. 


COMPLETE  SEAL  HARPOON,  CUMBERLAND  SOUND. 

Collected  by  George  Y.  Nickerson. 

Cat.  No.  19519,  U.S.N.M. 
NAT    MUS    1900 18 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


261 


against  breaking  the  shaft.  Indeed,  it  will  be  found  that  the  Eskimo 
on  the  other  side  of  the  continent  do  not  hinge  the  lance  head,  but 
merely  socket  it  and  leave  it  in  the  animal  stabbed.  Collected  by 
Captain  C.  F.  Hall. 

An  old,  much  weather-beaten  toggle  head  of  bone  (Cat.  No.  10404, 
U.S.N.M.),  without  blade,  from  Repulse  Bay,  is  shown  in  fig.  54. 
The  body  is  perfectly  flat  on  the  back  and  uniformly  ridged  below,  so 
that  in  section  the  form  is  that  of  a  hat  with  narrow  rim.  The  blade 
slit  in  the  truncated  tip  shallow  and  wide  and  there  is  no  show  of  rivets. 
Linehole,  large  and  straight  through,  with  wide  grooves  before  and 
behind  it.  There  were  evidently  two  barbs,  but  after  some  mending 
one  has  disappeared.  The  butt  was  beveled  nearly  in  a  plane  surface. 
Sockets  half  an  inch  deep.  Length,  3f  inches.  Col- 
lected by  Captain  C.  F.  Hall. 

Example  19519,  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum, 
Plate  6,  is  a  complete  toggle  harpoon  for  seals,  from 
Cumberland  Sound  region,  collected  by  George  Y. 
Nickerson.  The  shaft  (qijuqtenga)  is  of  hard  pine 
wood,  quadrangular  in  section,  with  rounded  corners, 
thick  in  the  middle,  and  tapering  toward  either  end. 
The  f  oreshaf  t  (qatirn)  or  socket  piece,  about  2  inches 
long,  is  of  walrus  ivory,  mortised  neatly  upon  a  tenon 
at  the  end  of  the  shaft.  In  longitudinal  section  it  is 
in  the  shape  of  a  tanged  lance  blade,  with  the  point 
truncated.  The  upper  and  outer  end  of  the  qatirn 
has  a  rounded  socket  for  the  reception  of  the  loose 
shaft,  to  be  described.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  shaft 
is  an  ivory  cap,  set  on  and  held  in  place  by  two  wooden 
dowels.  Upon  the  narrow  margin  of  the  shaft,  absent 
in  this  specimen,  is  set  a  hand  rest  (tikagung),  as  a 
stop  for  the  hand  of  the  hunter  when  making  his 
thrust.  At  right  angles  to  the  tikagung  is  a  peg  or 
button  of  ivory,  which  fits  into  the  telliqbing  or  eyelet 
piece  of  ivory  on  the  line.  The  loose  shaft  is  a  stout  piece  of  ivory, 
spindle  shaped,  with  a  long  taper  in  front  and  a  very  short  tapering 
butt  end.  This  fits  like  a  ball  at  the  socket  joint  into  the  socket. 

At  the  end  of  the  qatirn  or  f  oreshaf  t  two  holes  are  bored  through 
the  loose  shaft  3  inches  from  the  socket  joint.  Corresponding  holes 
are  bored  through  the  shaft  4  inches  from  the  front  end.  An  inch 
farther  back  from  these  two  holes  two  other  holes  are  bored  near 
together. 

Looking  at  this  apparatus  from  one  side,  a  seal-skin  thong  passes 
from  tne  back  forward  through  the  upper  left-hand  hole  in  the  shaft, 
up  through  the  left-hand  hole  in  the  loose  shaft,  back  and  through  the 
upper  right-hand  hole  in  the  shaft,  and  up  and  through  the  right-hand 


Fig.  54. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Repulse  Bay. 

Collected  by  C.  F.  Hall. 

Cat.  No.  10404,  U.S.N.M. 


262 


EEPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


hole  in  the  loose  shaft,  and  down  to  the  lower  right-hand  hole  in  the 
shaft,  through  and  back  through  the  lower  left-hand  hole  in  the  shaft, 
half  way  round  the  shaft,  and  gathered  in  a  loose  knot  through  the 
lower  bend  of  the  thong  on  the  front  side  of  the  shaft.  This  ingenious 
joint  deserves  especial  attention.  It  is  put  in  place  while  wet  or  green, 
and  by  its  shrinking  forms  a  close  hinge  for  holding  the  loose  shaft  in 
the  socket  of  the  foreshaft.  When  a  large  animal  is  struck  and  the 
loose  shaft  rammed  into  its  body,  the  violent  motion,  instead  of  break- 
ing the  brittle  ivory,  unbends  the  ball  and  socket  joint, 
the  thong  serving  as  a  hinge. 

The  toggle  head  (tokang)  is  of  walrus  ivory,  flat  on 
one  side  and  obtusely  angular  on  the  other.  On  this 
same  side  are  two  large  angular  cuts,  forming  a  perfo- 
ration entirely  through  but  not  piercing  the  back. 
Barbs,  two. 

The  line  (alirn)  is  of  stout  rawhide  bent  through  the 
hole  in  the  toggle  head,  and  the  end  is  joined  to  the 
standing  part  by  being  sewed  together,  and  also  seized 
or  wrapped  at  either  end  of  this  sewing.  On  the  alirn, 
at  a  point  exactly  corresponding  to  the  hand  rest,  is 
sewed  or  run  the  teliqbing,  which  is  a  somewhat  flat 
piece  of  ivory,  having  five  holes  for  the  stitching  or 
braid  of  sinew  and  a  quadrangular  hole  cut  in  the  broad 
part  to  fit  over  the  ivory  peg  on  the  side  of  the  shaft, 
which  draws  the  line  perfectly  tight  and  holds  the  toggle 
head  on  the  tip  end  of  the  loose  shaft.  The  line  may  be 
continued  to  any  length,  where  it  terminates  in  a  loop, 
and  one  or  more  bladders  (avatang)  may  be  attached  to 
it.  Length  of  shaft,  41  inches;  loose  shaft,  16  inches; 
tokang,  5  inches. 

The  head  (Cat.  No.  25654,  U.S.N.M.)  of  a  whale  har- 
poon from  Hudson  Bay  is  shown  in  fig.  55.  It  is  made 
of  walrus  ivory,  arid  probably  by  machinery.  The  U.  S. 
National  Museum  possesses  a  large  number  of  harpoon 
heads  of  this  type.  The  angle  on  the  back  is  sharp  and  the  front  is 
hexagonal.  The  specimen  conforms  to  a  model  or  type  as  if  made  in 
large  numbers  for  trade  with  the  Eskimo. 

The  blade  is  of  iron  and  neatly  fitted  into  a  socket  in  the  bluntly 
pointed  tip  end  of.  the  body.  At  the  upper  inner  corner  of  the  blade 
is  a  perforation  for  the  reception  of  a  small  line  of  sinew,  which 
serves  to  retain  the  blade  if  it  becomes  detached  from  its  slit.  The 
socket  is  a  shallow  conical  cavity,  made  to  fit  on  the  outer  end  of  the 
loose  shaft.  The  butt  end  is  a  long  bevel,  slightly  incurved.  The  line 
hole  is  made  with  great  care,  being  a  large  triangular  opening  with 
ample  grooves  on  either  side  for  the  play  of  the  line.  The  material  is 


Fig.  55. 

HEAD  OF  WHALE 
HARPOON. 

Hudson  Bay. 
Collected     by   J.    H. 
Bartlett.     Cat.   No. 
25654.  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900. — Mason, 


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ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


263 


cut  away  economically  at  every  point,  so  as  to  protect  the  line  from 
abrasion.  There  is  no  separate  becket,  but  the  end  of  the  line  is 
spliced  into  itself  to  form  a  loop. 

No.  25554  is  similar  to  the  foregoing  in  most  respects.  The  outline 
is  a  little  more  artistic,  but  the  general  form  and  functioning  of  the 
parts  are  precisely  the  same.  Length  of  blade,  2-J-  inches;  length  of 
body,  6  inches. 

Plate  7  is  a  typical  broad  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  34064, 
U.S.N.M.)  from  Cumberland  Sound.  The  ivory  body  is  lingulate  in 
outline,  nearly  flat  on  the  back,  and  rounded  beneath  for  line  hole  and 
socket.  Blade  triangular,  oblong,  set  1  inch 
into  the  saw  cut,  and  held  in  place  by  a  large 
copper  rivet.  No  blade  hole  is  present.  Line 
hole  well  back,  large,  bent  up  a  little,  and  run- 
ning into  very  deep  line  grooves.  Socket  wide 
and  shallow.  Barbs,  two,  formed  by  the  bifur- 
cation of  the  back.  Butt  end  curved  in  and 
somewhat  gouged  out.  Length,  5f  inches. 
Collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlein.  The  head  fits 
back  downward  into  a  cover  carved  of  a  piece 
of  pine  wood.  The  point  lies  under  two  loops 
of  baleen  passed  through  the  wood  and  f  rapped. 
A  rawhide  thong  fastened  into  the  butt  serves 
to  wrap  the  toggle  and  cover  together.  Other 
specimens  in  the  Museum,  collected  in  the  same 
locality  by  Mr.  Kumlein,  have  precisely  the 
same  characteristics.  The  specimens  are  more 
slender.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  blade,  the 
barbs,  or  spurs  at  the  base,  and  the  bottom  or 
inside  of  the  line  hole  are  in  parallel  planes. 
This  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  old  or  primitive 
style.  In  the  more  modern  heads,  as  will  be 
seen,  the  line  hole  is  perpendicular  to  the  plane 
of  the  blade.  Front  and  side  views  of  a  large 
toggle  head  from  the  Amur  are  given  to  show  how  the  old  type  sur- 
vives in  out-of-the-way  places  far  apart,  while  the  new  type  holds  the 
intermediate  localities.  (Schrenck,  Plate  42.) 

The  head  of  a  whale  lance  (Cat.  No.  34067,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Cum- 
berland Gulf,  collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlein,  is  shown  in  fig.  56.  The 
body  is  of  ivory,  in  the  form  of  a  flattened  conoid.  The  blade  of  iron 
is  leaf -shaped,  set  into  a  saw  cut  at  the  point  in  the  plane  of  the  widest 
diameter  of  the  head,  and  held  in  place  by  a  brass  rivet.  The  shaft 
socket  is  a  deep  cone.  On  either  side  of  the  head  a  line  hole  is  made 
by  two  borings,  one  vertical  and  the  other  horizontal  and  larger.  Into 
each  a  line  or  thong  of  seal  hide  is  drawn,  with  a  knot  on  the  upper 


Fig.  56. 

HEAD  OF  -WHATuJE   LANCE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  L.  Kumlein.    Cat.  No. 

34067,  U.S.N.M. 


264 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


Fig.  57. 

TOGGLE    HEAD,    TAKEN    FRuM 
DEAD  WHALE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 
Collected    by  Ludwig   Kumlein, 
after  Franz  Boas.  Cat.  No.  34069. 
U.S.N.M. 


end  which  fits  into  the  horizontal  bore  and  forms  a  button  or  stop. 
These  two  thongs  unite  about  a  foot  below  the  head  to  form  one  con- 
tinuous line.  Length  of  head,  3f  inches. 

A  broad,  flat  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  34069, 
U.S.N.M.)  of  walrus  ivory  (tokang),  taken  from 
a  large  Balcena  mysticetus  caught  in  Cumberland 
Sound  in  1878,  is  shown  in  fig.  57.  This  specimen 
was  collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlein.  The  body  is 
lingulate  in  form,  with  a  sharper  curve  below. 
The  iron  blade,  broken  off  at  the  point,  is  deep, 
set  into  a  saw  cut,  and  riveted  with  iron.  Near 
the  left-hand  corner  is  bored  a  blade  hole  for  a 
securing  line.  The 
line  hole  is  large, 
curved  upward,  and 
the  grooves  are  deep 
for  the  thick  rawhide 
line,  but  they  do  not 
perforate  the  head 
and  they  are  not 
seen  on  the  back  of 
the  toggle  head.  The 
butt  end  is  gouged 
out  in  a  spoon-shaped 
cavity  and  is  bifur- 
cated to  form  two 

barbs,  and  these  are  split  at  their  hinder 
extremity.  The  tips  of  the  barbs  have 
ornamental  notches.  The  socket  below  the 
plane  of  the  barbs  is  wide  and  shallow. 
Mr.  Kumlein  believes  that  this  head  was 
thrust  into  the  whale  while  it  was  a  year- 
ling, as  the  Eskimo  do  not  attack  a  large 
one  with  their  own  weapons.  Length,  4 
inches.1 

A  loose  head  of  a  seal  lance  (Cat.  No.  34068, 
U.S.N.M.)  is  shown  in  fig.  58.  Body  is  of 
ivory,  blade  pentagonal  in  shape,  and  fast- 
ened in  with  a  rivet.  The  body  is  conoid  in 
form,  with  a  square  base.  The  socket  for 
the  end  of  the  foreshaft  is  conical,  and 
alongside  of  this  at  the  margin  two  holes  are  bored,  opposite  each  other, 
perpendicular  for  a  notch,  at  which  point  they  are  met  by  two  other 


Fig.  58. 

LOOSE  HEAD  OF  LANCE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlein.    Cat.  No. 

34068.  U.S.N.M. 


1  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  490,  fig.  422. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


265 


holes  bored  in  horizontally.  Into  these  holes  fit  two  rawhide  thongs, 
by  means  of  which  the  loose  heads  are  attached  firmly  to  the  end  of 
the  shaft.  The  noticeable  feature  about  this  specimen  is  the  thor- 
oughly aboriginal  style  of  boring  the  holes  and  of  attaching  the  thongs. 
The  slit  is  cut  near  the  end  of  the  thong,  and 
through  this  the  .outer  end  passes,  being  bent 
backward.  This  forms  a  button  which  fits  exactly 
into  the  horizontal  hole  on  the  side  of  the  head. 
At  the  other  end  of  the  thongs  in  the  drawing  are 
shown  methods  of  splicing  practiced  by  the  central 
Eskimo.  There  is  nothing  which  exhibits  their 
ingenuity  more  effectively  than  the  way  in  which 
the  difficulties  are  overcome  by  simple  processes. 
A  lance  head  (Cat.  No.  34076,  U.S.N.M.)  from 
Cumberland  Sound  is  shown  in  fig.  60.  It  can  not 
be  called  either  a  toggle  head  or  a  barb,  since  it 
possesses  neither  characteristic.  It  is  simply  a 
pivoted  lance  head.  Body,  flat.  Blade,  of  iron, 
irregularly  rhomboidal,  made  to 
fit  into  the  saw  cut  by  a  nail  head 
driven  under  the  edge,  held  in 
place  by  an  iron  rivet. 

There  is  no  line  hole  in  the 
harpoon  acceptation,  but  on 
either  side  of  the  socket  a  hole 
is  bored  forward  in  the  plane  of 
the  blade  and  met  by  a  larger 
one  bored  inward  half  an  inch 
from  the  butt  end.  Into  each 
hole  a  rawhide  line  is  made  fast 
by  means  of  a  knot  peculiar  to 
the  Eskimo,  effected  by  cutting  a  slit  a  short  distance 
from  the  end  of  the  line  and  tucking  the  end  back- 
ward through  the  slit.  This  knot  will  enter  the  larger 
hole  on  the  side,  but  will  not  pull  through  the  smaller 
longitudinal  one.  The  socket  is  conical,  wide,  and 
fully  an  inch  deep.  Length,  2  inches.  Collected  in 
Cumberland  Sound  by  Ludwig  Kumlein.  Similar 
to  this  are  34068  and  34077  (tig.  59),  and  Boas  figures 
another  specimen  after  Kumlein's  drawings. 
Cat.  No.  73529  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  whale  lance 
(anguvigang),  from  Cumberland  Sound.  The  shaft  (qijuqtenga)  is  of 
hard  pine  wood,  possibly  from  a  ship.  Cross  section  elliptical  and 
flattened.  It  is  tapering  in  the  middle  in  both  directions.  The  fore- 


Fig.  59. 

LOOSE   HEAD   OK   LANCE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  Ludwig  Kumlein 

Oat.  No.  34077,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  60. 
LOOSE  HEAD  OF  LANCE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 
Collected    by    Ludwig 
Kumlein.  Cat.  No.34076, 
U.S.N.M. 


266 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


shaft  (qatirn)  is  a  short  head  of  bone  mortised  upon  the  end  of  the  shaft, 
truncated  arrow  shaped,  in  longitudinal  cross  section.  On  the  narrow 
side  of  the  shaft,  about  one-third  of  the  distance  from  the  foreshaft,  is 
a  hand  rest  (tikagung)  made  of  a  quadrangular  bit  of  bone.  This  is 
perforated  from  side  to  side,  laid  against  the  shaft  and  lashed  with  a 


Fig.  61. 

OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD  WITH  STONE  BLADE. 

Cumberland  Sound. 
Collected  by  Geo.  Y.  Nickerson.    Cat.  No.  19521,  U.S.N.M. 

strip  of  baleen.  At  right  angles  to  this  on  the  broad  side  of  the  shaft 
is  a  peg  protruding,  resembling  the  peg  for  the  line,  but  it  is  evidently 
an  added  part,  as  it  has  no  function. 

The  loose  shaft  of  ivory  has  a  blunt  pivot  on  the  inner  end  which 
fits  into  a  socket  in  the  foreshaft  to  form  the  ball-and-socket  joint 
(Igaming).  The  head  is  irregular,  hexagonal  in  cross  section  and  in  a  saw 
cut  in  the  front  end  a  leaf -shaped  blade  of  iron  is  inserted  and  riveted. 
The  loose  shaft  and  the  foreshaft  are  hinged  together,  as  in  other  speci- 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  267 

mens,  by  a  thong  of  rawhide.  This  ingenious  joint  is  most  effective 
as  a  universal  hinge.  It  can  be  easily  unloosed  and  made  tighter. 
By  a  universal  hinge  it  is  meant  that  in  every  direction  the  loose  shaft 
is  sustained  in  a  line  with  the  shaft  by  the  rigidity  of  the  rawhide, 
which  is  not  so  strong,  however,  but  that  when  an  extraordinary  strain 
is  placed  upon  the  loose  shaft  the  rawhide  will  give  way  in  any  direction 
and  allow  the  pivot  to  come  out  of  the  socket  and  save  the  apparatus 
from  breakage.  No  long  line  is  used  with  this  form  of  apparatus.  A 
similar  specimen  is  figured  from  the  Berlin  Ethnological  Museum,  by 
Dr.  Franz  Boas.1  Length  of  shaft,  43  inches;  loose  shaft,  16  inches. 
The  harpoon  of  the  Cumberland  area,  as  shown  by  the  previous 
descriptions  and  illustrations,  is  far  more  primitive  and  less  affected  by 
contact  with  Europe  than  that  of  Greenland  or  Hudson  Bay  type.  In 
closing  a  study  of  this  region  attention  is  called  to  fig.  61,  Catalogue 
No.  19521  in  the  U .  S.  National  Museum.  It  can  not  certainly  be  defined 
as  a  barbed  head,  nor  as  a  toggle  head.  It  has  the  form  of  the  toggle 
head,  but  the  line  hole,  instead  of  passing  through  the  body  above  the 
socket,  is  a  perforation  in  the  end  of  the  spur.  A  hole  has  been  bored 
through  this  end  in  a  line  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  body  and  is  met 
by  another  perforation  on  the  side  of  the  spur.  The  connecting  line 
evidently  passed  up  through  this  opening  and  was  toggled  by  means 
of  an  Eskimo  knot  formed  by  cutting  a  slot  near  the  end  of  the  thong 
and  turning  the  end  back  through  the  slit.  The  socket  does  not  differ 
from  that  of  other  harpoons.  The  head,  however,  is  a  large  and  lan- 
ceolate blade  of  chipped  stone,  reminding  one  of  the  whale  lance  blades 
brought  home  by  Ray  from  Point  Barrow  and  described  by  Murdoch. 
The  tang  of  this  blade  fits  upon  an  offset  at  the  end  of  the  body  and  is 
held  in  place  by  a  knot,  also  of  sinew  braid.  The  perforation  in  the 
spur  for  the  connecting  line  is  almost  unique  in  the  collections  of  the 
U.  S.  National  Museum.  One  other  specimen  has  a  perforation  at 
this  point,  fig.  52,  Catalogue  No.  8279.  In  this  specimen,  however, 
the  perforation  seems  to  have  no  function,  since  through  the  body 
of  the  toggle  head  there  is  a  regular  line  hole  with  line  grooves. 


HARPOONS   OF   ARCTIC    ALASKA. 


The  situation,  the  climate,  the  people,  and  the  natural  resources  of 
this  area  are  minutely  set  forth  by  Murdoch.  The  harpoon,  as  will 
be  seen,  is  related  to  all  these.  In  his  treatise  on  Point  Barrow  Eskimo 
the  last-named  writer  describes  and  figures  both  seal  darts  and  toggle 
harpoons,  and  these  are  included  in  our  subject.  He  says  that  the 
Eskimo  use,  to  capture  the  smaller  marine  animals,  a  dart  or  small 
harpoon  having  a  loose  barbed  head  of  bone  fitted  into  a  socket  at  the 
end  of  the  shaft,  to  which  it  is  attached  by  a  line  of  greater  or  less 

1  Sixth  Annual  Keport  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  496,  fig.  432. 


268  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

length.  It  is  always  contrived  so  that  when  the  head  is  struck  into 
the  animal  the  shaft  is  detached  and  acts  as  a  drag.  At  Point  Barrow 
only  the  small  form  of  dart  is  used.  In  ancient  times  a  larger  weapon, 
with  bladder  on  the  side  of  the  shaft,  was  employed.  All  kinds  of 
marine  animals  are  also  pursued  with  toggle  harpoons  of  the  same 
general  type,  but  of  different  patterns  for  different  animals.  They  are 
divided  into  two  classes,  those  intended  for  throwing  and  those  which 
are  thrust  with  the  hand.  Both  classes  agree  in  having  only  the  head 
attached  permanently  to  the  line  fitted  loosely  to  the  end  of  the  shaft, 
and  arranged  so  that  when  struck  into  the  animal  it  is  detached  from 
the  shaft  and  turns  under  the  skin  at  right  angles  to  the  line.  The 
harpoons  of  this  arctic  Alaskan  area  are  then  explained  and  figured  in 
great  detail  by  Murdoch.1 

The  same  writer  says  that  before  the  introduction  of  iron  it  was 
discovered  that  when  the  blade  of  the  toggle  harpoon  is  inserted  par- 
allel to  the  line  hole  the  toggle  head  is  less  liable  to  pull  out.  At 
any  rate,  by  a  kind  of  necessity,  the  blade  part  of  the  oldest  forms  is 
transverse  to  the  line  hole.  Also,  by  the  exigencies  of  the  broad 
body  of  bone  and  ivory,  the  blade  of  the  Amur  and  eastern  Eskimo 
regions  is  inserted  parallel  to  the  line  hole. 

Late  in  the  autumn,  when  the  pack  is  driven  toward  the  land  by 
the  north  wind,  the  ice  forms  rapidly.  The  hunters  travel  over  it, 
as  soon  as  it  will  bear  their  weight,  to  look  for  the  "alloos,"  or 
breathing  places,  formed  in  the  new  ice  when  quite  thin;  this  is  gently 
raised  by  the  animal's  head  into  a  slight  mound,  and  a  small  hole 
opened  with  its  nose  and  breath.  These  spots  would  escape  notice 
were  it  not  for  the  congealing  of  the  breath  forming  a  little  hummock 
of  hoar  frost  on  the  surface.  It  is  this  which  reveals  to  the  hunter  an 
"alloo,"  or  breathing  place  of  a  seal.  Every  seal  has  not  its  own 
breathing  places,  but  more  probably  the  instinct  of  the  animal  causes 
it  to  form  many  when  the  ice  is  thin,  and  many  are  frozen  up  for 
want  of  attention.  Later  in  the  season,  as  the  ice  grows  thicker,  it 
floats  higher,  leaving  a  larger  and  longer  air  space  beneath,  as  the 
seal,  when  it  visits  the  "alloo,"  scratches  away  the  ice  on  the  under 
side. 

B}^  these  places  the  hunter  takes  his  position,  and,  for  fear  the  seal 
will  catch  the  scent  of  his  person,  he  carries  a  small  three-legged  stool 
on  which  he  squats,  taking  his  position  on  the  lee  side  of  the  seal 
hole,  watching  and  listening  for  the  game.  Of  course  he  can  not  see 
the  seal,  but  if  there  is  a  little  wind  he  can  see  the  vapor  of  its  breath 
and  hear  the  slight  ripple  in  the  water  caused  by  the  act  of  breathing. 

When  the  hunter  discovers  the  presence  of  the  seal,  his  spear  is  sent 
crashing  through  the  thin  dome  of  ice  into  the  animal,  and  so  small 

1  Point  Barrow  Expedition,  1892,  pp.  218-240. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  269 

are  the  quarters  that  the  seal  is  seldom  missed.  The  ice  is  then  broken 
away  and  the  hole  enlarged  until  the  game  can  be  removed,  this  work 
being  done  with  the  ever-present  ice  pick. 

The  implements  used  in  this  method  of  hunting  seal  are  a  harpoon, 
to  the  staff  of  which  is  attached  an  ice  pick,  a  line,  and  a  stool  to  stand 
on.  The  stool  serves  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  feet  of  the  hunter 
dry,  for  newly  formed  ice  is  always  very  damp,  and  the  long,  patient 
waiting  by  the  alloos  would  wet  the  feet  of  the  hunter,  after  which  he 
could  not  remain  because  of  the  intense  cold,  for  furs  are  little  protec- 
tion if  wet.  At  this  season  open  water  is  formed  by  the  current 
moving  the  ice,  which  presses  together,  leaving  small  spaces  of  open 
water.  Seal  passing  these  spaces  will  often  come  to  the  surface  to 
breathe,  and  at  such  times  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  hunter's  rifle  and 
retrieving  harpoon. 

I  am  indebted  for  the  information  given  above  to  Captain  Heren- 
deen,  who  lived  many  years  at  Point  Barrow.  He  also  says  that  whale 
fishing  is  carried  on  in  the  months  of  April  and  May. 

On  arriving  home  from  the  great  spring  reindeer  hunt,  about  the 
1st  of  April,  the  Eskimo  have  a  few  days  of  feasting  and  consultation. 
The  wooden  dishes  of  steaming  venison  are  carried  to  the  council 
house,  "  Cuddigon  Igloo,"  where  the  men  are  gathered  to  talk  over  the 
coming  whale  hunt,  and  the  sages  tell  of  the  conditions  of  ice  required 
to  make  a  favorable  and  successful  season. 

The  wooden  part  of  everything  ^hat  is  put  into  the  umiak  or  freight 
boat  is  whittled  or  scraped  off  clean  and  smooth,  so  that  the  wood 
looks  bright  and  new. 

The  women  prepare  the  sealskin  floats  or  pokes,  as  they  are  called 
by  the  American  whalemen,  as  follows:  A  seal  is  captured  and  the  skin 
cut  around  the  head  near  the  eyes.  When  the  skin  is  cut  free  from 
the  blubber  and  turned  back,  and  the  flippers  are  reached,  they  are 
unjointed  near  the  body  of  the  seal  and  the  process  continued  until  the 
carcass  is  removed.  The  blubber  is  scraped  clean  from  the  flesh  side 
of  the  skin,  and  the  bones  carefully  removed  from  the  flippers.  This 
is  a  delicate  piece  of  work,  for  to  cut  the  skin  would  ruin  it  for  a 
float.  After  this  is  accomplished  all  natural  vents  to  the  body  are 
closed  by  tying  them  around  an  ivory  stud  made  for  the  purpose. 
Through  one  of  these  a  hole  is  drilled  to  inflate  the  poke.  The 
neck  is  passed  over  a  stick  about  6  inches  long  by  1  inch  in  diameter, 
then  sewed  up  and  the  stick  brought  up  to  the  seam  and  very  firmly 
lashed  with  braided  sinew.  The  poke  is  now  blown  up  and  stretched 
as  much  as  possible  by  rolling  and  standing  on  it.  Again  it  is  scraped 
to  remove  the  oil,  and  hung  up  in  its  inflated  state  to  dry.  After  a 
few  days  it  is  oiled  with  the  oil  from  the  stone  lamp.  This  dries  more 
quickly  than  raw  oil,  and  when  dried  again  a  coating  is  formed  which 
is  quite  impervious  to  water.  The  lashing  is  now  removed  from  the 


270  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

neck,  the  skin  carefully  turned  hair  side  out,  a  permanent  lashing  put 
on  the  neck  and  stick,  when  the  poke  is  blown  up  again  and  is  ready 
for  use. 

The  harpoon  line  is  made  of  walrus  hide,  very  strong  and  often 
double.  Its  end  is  made  fast  around  the  lashing  between  the  stick  and 
the  poke.  Two  pokes  are  used  on  the  harpoon  line,  which  terminates 
in  a  bridle.  Still  another  poke  is  used  as  a  trailer,  the  harpoon  line 
being  not  more  than  5  fathoms  in  length.  The  third  poke  or  trailer 
has  a  small  line  15  or  20  fathoms  long.  This* trailer  keeps  on  the  sur- 
face and  tells  the  hunters  the  position  of  the  whale,  thus  making  the 
pursuit  much  easier. 

The  harpoons  used  are  to  be  found  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum 
collection.  The  staff  is  about  10  feet  long,  tapering  at  each  end.  It  is 
never  thrown,  but  thrust  into  the  whale,  and  great  force  is  needed  to 
drive  this  rather  bulky  instrument  through  the  tough  fibrous  blubber 
when  the  cutting  portion  is  formed  of  stone,  as  was  always  the  case 
before  the  advent  of  the  white  man.  These  people  are  so  governed 
by  superstitions  that  they  fear  dire  disaster  would  overtake  them  if 
they  did  not  use  the  stone  cutting  points  of  their  fathers  on  the  first 
whale;  after  that  they  can  use  what  seems  best  for  the  occasion. 

The  other  implements  to  complete  the  outfit  of  an  umiak  are  as  fol- 
lows: Three  pokes  well  inflated  and  ready  for  use,  and  from  three  to 
five  more  all  ready  to  be  blown  up;  a  paddle  for  each  person,  the  one 
used  for  steering  being  much  larger  than  the  others;  an  implement  for 
bailing  the  umiak,  made  of  the  reindeer  antler,  as  it  is  very  desirable 
to  remove  the  water  as  soon  as  possible  after  it  leaks  in;  a  long  knife, 
fixed  on  a  pole  10  feet  in  length,  for  cutting  blubber  and  lean  meat 
under  water;  three  gaffs  (hooks  on  poles)  of  different  lengths,  vary- 
ing from  6  to  12  feet,  the  hooks  of  ivory;  these  are  useful  to  hook  on 
to  the  portion  of  flesh  to  be  cut  off;  a  little  bag  with  plugs  whittled 
out  to  put  in  the  mouthpiece  used  to  inflate  the  pokes;  these  plugs 
are  often  broken,  and  an  extra  one  must  be  kept  on  hand;  a  large 
wooden  scoop  to  bail  when  a  quantity  of  water  gets  into  the  umiak;  a 
spare  whale  harpoon;  a  crutch  to  lash  in  the  prow  of  the  umiak  to 
rest  the  harpoon  on;  the  two  tips  of  this  rest  are  carved  in  a  rude 
semblance  to  a  whale's  head;  the  skin  of  a  crow,  some  eagle  feathers, 
and  a  little  earth  in  a  small  bag  from  the  grave  of  some  noted  whale 
hunter,  for  good  luck;  some  of  these  crow  skins  have  been  used  many 
years  and  are  in  a  most  dilapidated  condition,  but  are  highly  esteemed, 
for  they  have  been  present  at  the  death  of  many  a  whale;  great  wis- 
dom is  accredited  to  the  eagle  and  the  crow,  and  it  is  considered  quite 
the  proper  thing  to  use  this  talisman  in  order  to  overcome  the  cun- 
ning of  the  whale;  a  couple  of  toggles  made  of  ivory,  in  the  shape  of 
a  whale;  and  straps  to  lash  the  pectoral  fins  of  the  whale  when  towing, 
so  the  fins  will  not  drag  heavily  through  the  water;  a  bag  of  provi- 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


271 


sions.  The  men  of  the  boat's  crew  carry  their  guns  to  shoot  passing 
seals  during  the  weary  wait  for  the  whale  to  come.  Two  women  will 
be  found  in  most  crews.  Each  woman  carries  a  sealskin  bag  to  thaw 
out  the  snow  for  drinking  purposes;  the  snow  is  put  in  the  bag  and 
its  mouth  firmly  tied;  it  is  then  placed  on  her  back  between  the  inner 
and  outer  coat.  The  women  also  have  their  sewing 
outfits,  to  mend  any  breaks  in  the  umiak. 

In  hunting  through  the  ice  the  Eskimo  of  Point  Bar- 
row used  a  different  shaped  harpoon,  with  a  long  ivory 
piece  on  each  end  and  a  smaller  head.  As  the  seal 
comes  up  to  blow  they  hurl  this  spear  through  the 
hole;  then  they  drown  the  seal.  After  the  animal  is 
dead  they  haul  it  through  the  ice,  picking  the  ice  away 
until  the  hole  is  large  enough  to  get  the  seal  out.  The 
animals  do  not  freeze  quickly,  because  they  have  such  a 
coating  of  blubber.  (Mr.  Charles  Browers.) 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No. 
1328,  U.S.N.M.)  of  antler,  from  the  Mackenzie  River 
district,  is  shown  in  fig.  62.  Body  sagittate,  tapering  to 
a  flat  angular 'tip.  Blade  of  iron,  with  a  long  rectangu- 
lar tang  and  a  triangular  point  with  slight  projections 
at  its  base.  The  tang  is  snugly  fitted  into  the  slit  and 
held  by  an  iron  rivet.  There  is  a  line  hole  at  one  angle 
of  the  point,  but  it  may  have  been  there  previously, 
since  these  Eskimos  especially  work  up  all  the  old  iron 
they  get  their  hands  on. 

Line  hole  straight  through  the  body  behind  the  lateral 
barbs,  and  without  slight  grooves.  Barbs,  three;  two 
on  the  sides,  on  an  arrowhead,  ornamented  with  longi- 
tudinal lines,  and  one  terminating  the  back  in  a  point. 
Socket  half  an  inch  deep.  Butt  end  having  two  faces,  the  lower  almost 
at  right  angles  with  the  body,  the  upper  whittled  thin  under  the  barb. 
Length,  3f  inches.  Collected  by  C.  P.  Gaudet.  To  this  special  type 
belong  also  many  other  examples.  The  National  Museum  is  under 
infinite  obligations  to  Messrs.  Robert  MacFarlane,  B.  R.  Ross,  and 
R.  Kennicott  for  Mackenzie  River  materials. 

A  barbed  seal  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  16675,  U.S.N.M.)  for  throwing 
stick.  The  shaft  is  of  light  pine  wood,  tapering  backward,  and  is 
slightly  thickened  at  the  butt  end.  It  is  attached  to  the  f  oreshaf  t  by 
means  of  a  socket  and  shank  on  the  foreshaft.  The  foreshaft  is  of 
whale's  bone,  c}rlindrical.  The  tang  is  a  plug  cut  on  the  end  of  the 
bone,  fitting  into  the  socket  of  the  foreshaft.  A  hole  is  bored  through 
the  tang,  through  which  the  assembling  line  passes  to  hold  the  two 
parts  together.  The  socket  for  the  point  is  elliptical  in  section.  No 
feathers  are  used.  The  point  is  of  bone,  delicate  in  form.  Shank 


Fig.  62. 

BARBED  AND  TOG- 
GLE HEAD. 

Mackenzie  River. 
Collected  by  C.   P. 

Gaudet.    Cat.  No. 

1328,  U.S.N.M. 


272 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


oval  in  section.  Barbs,  three  on  each  margin.  Line  hole  oblong. 
The  line  is  of  rawhide,  one  end  fastened  through  the  line  hole  by  a 
triple  splice.  About  midway  the  line  is  split  and  the  two  ends  are 
fastened  as  a  martingale — one  around  the  shaft  near  the  f oreshaft,  the 
other  18  inches  from  the  butt  end,  both  by  a  clove  hitch.  The  assem- 
bling line  on  this  specimen  is  short.  It  is  pressed  into 
the  wood  just  below  the  juncture  with  the  f  oreshaft  and 
passes  forward,  then  through  the  perforations  in  the 
foreshaft  and  backward,  where  it  makes  three  clove 
hitches  and  then  is  continued  backward,  where  the  upper 
end  of  the  martingale  is  attached,  and  is  fastened  off  by 
a  half  hitch,  the  end  being  pressed  into  the  wood.  This 
specimen  is  from  Kotzebue  Sound,  collected  by  W.  H. 
Dall.  Length  of  shaft,  49i  inches;  foreshaft,  5  inches; 
point  2f  inches. 

A  large  toggle  head  of  a  harpoon  without  blade  (Cat. 
No.  38775,  U.S.N.M.),  from  Diomede  Island,  is  shown 
in  fig.  63.  It  is  of  a  typical  form.  The  body  is  high  and 
narrow,  elliptical  in  outline,  but  having  flattened  faces 
here  and  there.  The  line  hole  is  cut  straight  through, 
and  is  a  flat  ellipse  in  outline,  1^  inches  long  and  three- 
eighths  inch  wide,  with  no  attempt  at  line 
grooves.  There  is  one  immense  barb 
formed  by  the  back  prolonged,  ridged,  and 
cocked  up.  The  shallow  socket  is  in  a 
long  cut  or  chamfer  forming  the  butt  end. 
Length,  8i  inches.  Collected  by  E.  W. 
Nelson.  To  this  same  class  of  long,  slen- 
der heads  with  large  line  hole  belong  the 
following  specimens,  with  polygonal  cross  section. 

Cat.  No.  48589  (fig.  64),  from  Kotzebue  Sound,  col- 
lected by  Nelson,  is  a  little  model  in  walrus  ivory  of  a 
precisely  similar  head,  with  perpendicular  blade  and 
very  long  bevel  at  the  butt  end. 

A  typical  Alaskan  walrus  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  49167, 
U.S.N.M.),  from  Diomede  Island,  is  shown  in  tig.  65. 
The  body  is  of  walrus  ivory,  conoid,  with  sloping  faces 
on  the  back.  Blade  of  iron,  large  in  proportion,  square 
at  the  base,  set  H  inches  into  the  slit,  and  held  by  a 
bone  pin. 

Line  hole  oblong,  straight  through,  widened  behind, 
and  flanked  by  two  short  grooves.      Barb,  one,  angular; 
socket  for  the  end  of  the  shaft  half  an  inch  deep.     Butt  end  cut  off 
in  a  plane  slightly  warped  at  the  socket.    Length,  5  inches.    Collected 
by  E.  W.  Nelson. 


Fig.  63. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Diomede    Island, 
Collected   by  E.  W. 

Nelson.     Cat.  No. 

38775,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  64. 

MODEL  OF  TOGGLE: 
HEAD. 

Kotzebue  Sound, 
Collected  by  E.   W. 

Nelson.     Cat.    No. 

48589.  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


273 


0 


A  toggle  head  of  a  whale  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  56601,  U.S.N.M.),  from 
Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  collected  by  Captain  Ray  and  described  by 
Murdoch  (1892,  p.  238),  is  shown  in  fig.  66.  Specimens  of  this  kind 
are  made  for  the  market.  The  blades  are  triangular,  the  corners 
somewhat  rounded  off.  The  body  is  of  coarse 
whale's  bone,  from  the  rib  or  jaw.  Only  two  out 
of  a  large  number  collected  by  Ray  are  of  ivory. 
The  blade  of  this  example  is  of 
brass,  set  into  a  saw  cut  in  the 
end  of  the  body  and  held  in  place 
by  a  bone  rivet.  The  body  is 
somewhat  quadrangular  in  sec- 
tion, the  line  hole  is  well  back 
from  the  blade,  and  the  body 
widens  from  the  front  to  this 
point.  The  line  grooves  extend 
outward  beyond  the  base.  The 
single  spur  is  long  and  inclined 
upward.  The  base,  contrary  to 
the  usual  pattern, 
is  somewhat  con- 
vex. In  the  great 
mass  of  toggle 
harpoons  the  base 
is  either  concave 
or  formed  by  two 
planes  which 
make  a  different 
angle  with  the  axis 
of  the  specimen. 
But  in  this  case 
the  contrary  is 
true.  The  socket 
for  the  foreshaft 
is  wide  and  deep. 

A  small  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  566M,  U.S.N.M.)  of 
bone,  from  Point  Barrow,  for  catching  seal,  is  shown  in 
fig.  67.  Body  conoid,  flattened  laterally.  Blade  lanceo- 
late, just  fitting  at  its  base  into  the  slit  of  the  head  and 
fastened  with  an  iron  rivet.  Line  hole  straight  through 
and  flanked  by  deep  grooves.  Barbs,  two,  formed  by  a 
file  cut  in  the  back.  This  is  a  common  practice  on  hundreds  of  mod- 
ern specimens.  Socket  for  the  shaft  shallow  and  distinctly  margined. 
Butt  end  formed  by  the  meeting  of  two  planes.  Length,  3  inches. 
Collected  bv  P.  H.  Rav. 


Fig.  65. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Diomede  Island,  Bering 

Strait. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson 
Cat.  No.  49167,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  66. 

TOGGLE  HEAD  OF  WHALE 
HARPOON. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray. 
Cat.,No.  56601,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  67. 
TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Point  Barrow, 

Alaska. 

Collected  by  P.  H, 
Ray.  Cat.  No. 
566H,  U.S.N.M. 


NAT   MUS   1900 19 


274 


KEPOKT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


A  new  style  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  56620,  U.S. KM.)  from  Point 
Barrow,  is  shown  in  fig.  68.  A  large  number  of  specimens  of  this  t}Tpe 
were  brought  home  by  the  Ray  expedition.  The  body  is  of  antler  and 
the  blade  is  set  into  the  saw  cut  at  right  angles  to  the  plane  of  the 
body,  barbed.  The  line  hole  is  in  the  plane  of  the  blade.  The  socket 
for  the  foreshaft  divides  the  base  into  two  parts  with  different  slope, 
the  one  nearly  perpendicular,  the  other  with  a  slight  angle,  so  as  to 
form  the  barb.  Of  this  specimen  Murdoch  says,  "  It  is  a  newly  made 
model  in  reindeer  antler  of  the  ancient  harpoon,  but  evidently  by  a 

man  used  to  modern  patterns,, 
so  that  the  blade  is  set  in  at  the 
wrong  angle." 

Walrus  harpoons  (Cat.  Nos. 
56670  and  56672,  U.  S.  N.  M.) 
from  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  col- 
lected by  P.  H.  Ray,  are  shown 
in  figs.  69  a  and  5.  The  shaft 
of  the  former  is  of  spruce,  71 
inches  long,  rounded,  and  taper- 
ing from  the  middle  in  both  di- 
rections. The  club-shaped  fore- 
shaft  is  of  ivor}?-  and  has  a 
wedge-shaped  tang  which  fits  in 
a  cleft  at  the  end  of  the  shaft. 
The  shaft  and  foreshaft  are 
fastened  together  by  a  whip- 
ping of  seal  thong  put  on  wet, 
one  end  fastened  through  a  hole 
in  the  shaft,  and  the  whole  kept 
from  slipping  by  a  ridge  on  each 
side  of  the  tang.  In  the  tip  of 
the  foreshaft  is  a  deep,  round 
socket  to  receive  the  loose  shaft, 
a  tapering  rod  of  walrus  ivorj^, 
secured  by  a  piece  of  seal  thong 

passing  through  a  transverse  hole  above  the  shoulder.  One  end  is 
spliced  to  the  thong;  the  other  end  makes  a  couple  of  turns  outside  of 
the  lashing  between  the  shaft  and  the  foreshaft.  On  the  side  of  the 
shaft  and  just  above* the  middle  is  a  line  catch. 

No.  56772  is  a  similar  togglehead  harpoon  with  the  line  hole  in  the 
plane  of  the  blade,  foreshaft  with  square  base,  spindle-shaped  fore- 
shaft,  leader  looped  into  the  line  hole  and  doubled  at  the  outer  end,  to 
be  spliced  with  the  end  of  the  line.  On  the  shaft  is  a  hook  to  be  used 
in  tightening  the  apparatus  when  the  head  is  in  place  and  also  a  stop 


Fig.  68. 

TOGGLE  HEAD  WITH  LEADER. 

Point  Barrow. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  after  Murdoch. 
Cat.  No.  56620,  U.S.N.M. 


ABOEIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


27fi 


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s  g  .s  s? 

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276 


EEPOKT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    1900. 


for  the  hand  in  thrusting.     The  details  of  this  specimen  are  carefully 

worked  out  by  Murdoch  (p.  225). 

A  sealing  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  56774,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Point  Barrow, 

Alaska,  collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  is  shown  in  fig.  70.    With  respect  to  the 

use  of  this  implement,  Murdoch  says  that  as 
the  seals  come  up  for  air  to  their  breathing 
holes  or  cracks  in  the  ice  a  harpoon  is  used 
which  has  a  short  wooden  shaft  armed  with  an 
ice  pick,  and  a  long,  slender  loose  shaft  suita- 
ble for  thrusting  down  the  small  breathing 
hole.  It  carries  a  toggle  head,  but  has  only  a 
short  line,  the  end  of  which  is  made  fast  per- 
manently to  the  shaft.  Such  harpoons  are 
used  by  all  Eskimo  wherever  they  are  in  the 
habit  of  watching  for  seals  at  their  breathing 
holes.  The  foreshaft  is  simply  a  stout  band 
for  the  end  of  the  shaft; 
the  loose  shaft  is  of  bone 
and  has  two  holes  to 
receive  the  end  of  the  as- 
sembling line,  which  not 
only  holds  the  loose  shaft 
in  place,  but  connects 
the  other  parts  of  the 
shaft  so  that  in  case  the 
wood  breaks  the  pieces 
will  not  be  dropped.1 
An  old  bone  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  89331, 

U.  S.N.M.)  from  Point  Barrow,  which  is  a  compro- 
mise or  transition  between  the  barbed  harpoon 

head  and  the  toggle  head,  is  shown  in  fig.  71#, 

Two  long  barbs  on  the  margins  are  bilateral  and 

symmetrical.     Blade  transverse  to  line  hole,  as  in 

the  small  seal  dart  heads.     The  shaft  socket  groove 

is  flanked  on  its  margins  with  slots,  through  which 

a  thong  may  have  passed  to  complete  the  apparatus. 

Two  specimens  are  figured  by  Murdoch.     Length, 

4i  inches.     Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  U.  S.  A.2 

Murdoch  calls  attention,  in  fig.  7l£,  to  the  similarity  of  No.  89544, 

U.S.N.M.,    to    a   harpoon   head  collected   by    Nordenskiold    at    the 

ancient  Onkalon  house  at  North  Cape.3 

1  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  fig.  239. 

2  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  220,  fig.  209  a  and  b. 
3Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  fig.  211,  p.  220,  quoting  Voy- 
age of  the  Vega,  I,  p.  444,  fig.  5. 


Fig.  71.  . 

OLD  BARBED  AND  TOGGLE  HEADS. 

Point  Parrow. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  after  Murdoch. 
Cat.  Nos.  a,  89331;  b,  8954,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  72. 

OLD    TRANSITION    HARPOON 
HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  after 
Murdoch.       Cat.    No.    89337, 
U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


277 


A  bone  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  89337,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Point  Bar- 
row is  shown  in  fig.  72.  It  marks  a  step  in  the  transition  from 
barbed  head  to  toggle  in  that  the  barbs  are  absent;  a  slot  on  each 
margin  of  the  body  marks  the  places  where  they  might  have  been 
inserted.  The  line  hole  is  transverse  to  the  blade.  The  barb  of  the 
toggle  head  is  four-pronged  and  sits  awry  with  reference  to  the  blade. 
Length,  ±i  inches.  Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  U.  S.  A.1 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  89377,  U.  S.  N.  M. ) 
from  Point  Barrow,  rhomboidal  in  section,  conoidal  behind  the  barbs, 
body  all  in  one  piece,  of  bone  or  antler,  long,  slender,  tapering  from 
butt  to  point  like  a  lance  blade,  is  shown  in  fig.  73. 
When  the  line  hole  is  horizontal  the  blade  is  vertical. 
The  line  hole  is  a  small  round .  perforation.  Line 
grooves,  narrow;  furrows,  uniform. 

There  were  at  one  time,  possibly,  barbs  on  the  mar- 
gins of  the  blade,  for  there  exists  on  each,  at  a  distance 
of  2  inches  back  from  the  point,  a  groove  seven-eighths 
inch  long,  three-eighths  inch  deep,  and  less  than  one- 
eighth  inch  wide,  undercut  in  front.  Into  this  groove 
or  slat  could  have  been  inserted  marginal  barbs  of  bone, 
or  perhaps  of  stone.  The  barb  at  the  butt  end  is  made 
up  of  a  series  of  four-lobed  projections  of  different 
lengths. 

The  socket  is  a  squared  mortise  into  the  bone,  with 
one  side  quite  open.  On  the  margins  of  this  space 
elongated  slots  are  cut  into  an  open,  depressed  space  on 
the  back,  and  the  socket  is  completed  by  coiling  around 
through  them  a  string  of  animal  tissue. 

With  this  specimen  should  be  compared  an  example 
from  North  Cape,  with  top  and  bottom  barb,  oblong  line 
hole  decorated  by  furrows  along  the  sides  toward  the  tip, 
terminating  in  two  branches  and  a  cross  line.2  Length 
of  89377  is  5  inches.  Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray.3 

A  combined  barbed  and  toggle  harpoon  head  (Cat. 
No.  89378,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Point  Barrow,  of  antler, 
all  in  one  piece,  is  shown  in  fig.  74.  The  body  is  long, 
slender,  and  angular  in  its  outlines,  a  flat  triangle  in 
section  in  front  and  pentagonal  behind  the  barb.  Line  hole  straight 
through  very  near  the  butt  end  and  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  point 
and  lateral  barbs.  Line  grooves  deep  cut  for  a  small  rawhide  line. 

There  are  three  barbs,  one  on  each  margin,  acute,  the  opening  two- 
sided;  the  rear  bttrb  is  a  sharp  termination  of  the  rigid  back.  Socket  for 

1  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  220,  fig.  210. 

2  A.  E.  Nordenskiold,  Voyage  of  the  Vega,  New  York,  1882,  p.  335. 

3  Ninth  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  220,  fig.  210. 


Fig.  73. 

BARBED  AND   TOG- 
GLE HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected   by    P.  H- 
Ray.  Cat.  No.  89377, 
U.S.N.M. 


278 


REPOET    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


the  shaft  half  an  inch  deep,  butt  end  cut  off,  with  two  faces  and  a  ridge 
in  the  middle.  Length,  5-J  inches.  Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray.  It  is  well 
known  that  all  such  angular  material  has  been  made  with  steel  tools. 
The  only  attempt  at  decoration  is  a  series  of  four  short  grooves  extend- 
ing forward  from  the  angles  of  the  lateral  barb — a 
common  feature  in  Eskimo  art. 

An  ivory  harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  89379,  U.S.N.M.) 
from  the  Eskimo  camp  near  Point 
Barrow,  which  marks  that  step  in  f\ 

the  transition  from  the  barbed  head 
to  the  toggle  head  in  which  the  line 
hole,  line  grooves,  and  shaft  socket 
of  the  latter  are  complete,  is  shown 
in  fig  75.  Length,  5  inches.  Col- 
lected by  P.  H.  Ray.1  It  is  com- 
pared by  Murdoch  with  a  Chukchi 
form.2  The  blade  is  long  and  tapers 
backward  from  the  tip  to  the  equal 
barbs,  giving  to  this  part  of  the 
specimen  the  form  called  sagittate, 
and  occupying  two-thirds  of  the 
length  of  the  head.  The  tang  of  the 
blade  and  barbs  expands  to  form 
the  body,  through  which  the  line 
hole  passes  directly,  perpendicular 
to  plane  of  the  blade.  The  line 
grooves  are  straight  and  uniform  in 
depth.  The  body  widens  from  the 
barb  on  the  side  that  is  to  become  the 
spur  or  rear  barb,  the  other  side 
being  straight.  The  shaft  socket 
is  in  perfect  alignment,  and  the  base  is  a  single 
gracefully  curved  plane  to  the  point  of  the  spur. 
A  curious  fragment  of  a  combined  barb  and  toggle 
harpoon  head  (Cat.  No.  89381,  U.S.N.M.)  is  shown  in 
fig.  76.  The  parts  are  all  from  one  piece  of  ivory;  the 
barbed  head  is  transverse  to  the  line  hole,  the  line  hole 
is  somewhat  triangular,  and  the  specimen  is  much  dis- 
colored and  disfigured,  showing  that  it  is  old.  Either  owing  to  the 
poverty  of  material  or  on  account  of  breakage,  the  after  part  of  the 
toggle  head  is  too  narrow  for  a  socket  to  the  foreshaft.  In  order 
to  remedy  this  defect  the  Eskimo  hunter  has  made  a  furrow  or  cavity 

1  Figured  by  Murdoch  in  Ninth  Annual  Keport  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  220, 
fig.  211. 

2  A.  E.  Nordenskiold,  Voyage  of  the  Vega,  New  York,  1882,  p.  335. 


Fig.  74. 

COMBINED   BARBED  AND 
TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected   by  P.    H.    Ray. 
o.  89378,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  75. 

BARBED  AND    TOGGLE 
HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected  by  P.  H.  Kay. 
Cat.  No.  89379.  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


279 


on  the  side  and  cut  square  holes  in  the  margins  of  this  cavity,  through 
which  a  rawhide  line  could  be  run  several  times,  and  this  would  serve 
the  purpose  of  the  socket.  This  device  may  be  seen  on  one  other  speci- 
men in  the  collection.  Collected  by  Philip  H.  Ray,  Point  Barrow. 

An  old  harpoon  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  89382,  U.S.N.M.)  from 
Nuwuk,  in  the  Point  Barrow  region,  made  of  bone, 
all  in  one  piece,  is  shown  in  fig.  77.  In  fact,  it  is  a 
barbed  head,  like  that  of  the  seal  dart,  becoming  a 
toggle  head.  The  part  answering  to  the  blade  is  a 
point  on  the  bone  with  a  single  barb  on  the  lower 
side  or  belly.  From  the  base  of  the  barb  the  body 
widens  to  the  butt  end.  The  line  hole  is  transverse 
to  the  blade.  The  butt  is  cut  off  diagonally.  The 
socket  is  wanting,  but  the  bone  is  concave  on  one 
side.  Mr.  Murdoch  thinks  that  a  socket  was  pro- 
vided by  the  lashing,  as  in  Example  89381. l  Length, 
3  inches.  Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray. 

An  old-style  toggle  head  (Cat.  No~  89748 ,  U.  S.  N.  M. ) 

for  a  harpoon  is  shown 
in  fig.  78.  The  body  is 
of  bone,  quadrangular 
in  section.  The  head  is 
of  chipped  stone,  with  a 
tang  set  into  the  kerf  in 
front  of  the  body  and 
held  in  place  not  by  a 
rivet,  but  by  a  lashing 
of  sinew  twine.  The  line  hole  is  at  the 
extremity  of  the  body,  where  it  begins  to 
taper  to  the  spur  or  barb,  which  is  slightly 
bifurcated  at  its  outer  end.  This  is  called 
an  old-fashioned  specimen  because  the 
blade  of  stone  is  in  the  plane  of  the  greatest 
width  of  the  body  and  is  bisected  by  the 
line  hole.2 

A   retrieving  seal   harpoon   (Cat.   No. 
89907,   U.S.N.M.)  from  Point  Barrow, 

collected  by  Ray,  is  shown  in  figs.  79  and  80.  This  specimen  was 
supposed  by  Murdoch  to  have  been  invented  after  the  introduction  of 
the  rifle,  but  in  his  description 3  he  makes  the  remark  that  though  it  is 
used  at  the  present  day  for  nothing  but  retrieving,  the  fact  of  similar 
specimens  having  been  brought  by  the  officers  of  the  Blossom  shows  that 

1  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  219,  fig.  208. 

2  Idem,  p.  221,  fig.  212. 

3  Idem,  p.  231. 


Fig.  76. 

COMBINED  BARBED  AND 
TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 

Collected   by  P.    H.    Ray. 

Cat.  No.  89381.  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  77. 
OLD  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 

Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray,  after  Murdoch- 
Cat.  No.  89382,  U.S.N.M. 


280 


EEPOKT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   3900. 


it  antedated  the  rifle.  Such  a  retrieving  harpoon  is  called  nauliga.  The 
shaft  (ipua)  is  of  ash,  4  feet  5  inches  long  and  1  inch  in  diameter,  taper- 
ing very  slightly  to  each  end.  The  ice  pick  (tuu),  of  walrus  ivory,  14 
inches  long  and  1  inch  wide,  has  a  round  tang  fitting  into  a  hole  in  the 
butt  of  the  shaft.  Close  to  the  shaft  a  small  hole  is  drilled  in  one 
edge  of  the  pick,  and  through  this  is  passed  a  bit  of  seal  thong,  the 
ends  of  which  are  laid  along  the  shaft  and  neatly  whipped  down  with 
sinew  braid,  with  the  end  wedged  into  a  slit  in  the  wood.  The  fore- 
shaft  (ukumailuta)  is  of  walrus  ivory,  4£  inches  long 
and  li  inches  in  diameter  at  the  thickest  part,  and 
secured  to  the  shaft  by  a  whipping  (ni'xma)  of  seal 
thong.  The  loose  shaft  (igimu)  is  also  of  ivory  and  2 
inches  long,  and  secured  by  a  thong  (ipiuta)  spliced 
into  a  loop  through  the  hole  at  the  butt,  as  previously 
described.  The  end  is  hitched  round  the  tip  of  the 
shaft  with  a  marlin  hitch,  followed  by  a  clove  hitch 
below  the  whipping.  The  ivory  finger  rest  (ti'ka)  is 
fastened  on  with  a  lashing  of  whip  cord  (white  man's) 
passing  round  the  shaft.  The  line  catch  (ki'lerbwin), 
which  was  of  ivory  and  shaped  like  those  on  the  walrus 
harpoons,  has  been  lost  in  transportation.  The  head 
differs  only  in  size  from  those  intended  for  the  bearded 
seal,  except  in  having  a  hexagonal  body.  It  is  3.3 
inches  long  and  has  a  blade  of  iron  fastened  into  a  body 
of  walrus  ivory  with  a  single  wooden  rivet.  While 
there  is  no  detachable  leader,  the  head  is  attached  by 
a  separate  piece  of  the  same  material  to  the  line 
(tukaksia),  which  is  86  feet  10  inches  long  and  made 
of  a  single  piece  of  fine  seal  thong  about  one-eighth 
inch  thick.  This  shorter  piece  is  about  27  inches 
long,  and  is  passed  through  the  line  hole  and  doubled 
so  that  one  part  is  a  little  the  longer. 

It  is  fastened  strongly  to  the  end  of  a  line  by  a  com- 
plicated splice  made  as  follows:  A  slit  is  cut  in  the  end 
of  the  main  line,  through  which  are  passed  both  ends  of 
the  short  line.  The  longer  part  is  then  slit  about  2 
inches  from  the  end,  and  the  shorter  part  passed  through  the  slit, 
and  a  slit  cut  close  to  the  end  of  it,  through  which  the  longer  end  is 
passed.  The  whole  is  then  drawn  taut  and  the  longer  end  clove 
hitched  round  the  main  line. 

Catalogue  No.  129585  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  barbed 
harpoon  (for  throwing  stick)  from  Cape  Blossom,  and  collected  by 
Capt.  M.  A.  Healy,  of  the  U.  S.  Revenue  Marine.  The  shaft  is  of 
light  pine  wood,  tapering  back  toward  the  butt  end.  It  is  socketed  to 
receive  the  shank  or  tang  of  the  foreshaft,  which  is  plug-shaped  and 


Fig.  78. 

OLD  STYLE  TOGGLE 
HEAD. 

Point  Barrow. 
Collected  by  P.  H.  Ray, 
after  Murdoch.    Cat. 
No.  89748,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN   HARPOONS. 


281 


01 


282  REPOKT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

fitted  in,  all  being  held  together  by  sinew  braid.  The  foreshaft  is  of 
whale's  bone,  cylindrical.  The  socket  for  the  point  is  oblong.  Feath- 
ers, two,  especially  noteworthy.  The  tip  end  of  a  half  feather  is 
punched  into  the  wood  near  the  neck,  bent  at  right  angle  and  carried 
forward  and  lashed  down  by  the  assembling  line.  The  fibrous  part  of 
the  feather  is  on  the  inside,  between  the  rib  and  the  shaft  of  the  har- 
poon. This  style  of  feathering  is  seen  on  example  48153,  from  Sledge 
Island,  with  three  feathers;  on  34020,  from  Norton  Sound,  and  on 
several  specimens  from  Golofnin,  and  does  not  occur  any  farther  south. 
The  point  is  of  bone,  concave  on  one  side  and  convex  on  the  other. 
Barbs,  three  on  one  margin  and  two  on  the  other.  The  tang  of  the 
point  is  wide  and  flat.  The  line  is  of  seal  hide;  martingale  formed  by 
splitting  the  line  in  the  middle  and  tying  the  two  ends  to  the  shaft. 
There  are  two  assembling  lines — one  extending  from  the  upper  knot 
of  the  martingale  to  the  joint  of  the  shaft  and  foreshaft,  where  it  forms 
the  seizing  between  the  two;  the  other  begins  with  the  lower  knot  of 
the  martingale,  where  one  end  of  sinew  thread  is  punched  into  the 
wood,  passes  backward,  and  is  fastened  off  by  a  clove  hitch.  It  then 
returns  to  the  starting  point,  where  it  is  again  fastened  off,  and  goes  on 
to  the  feather  by  a  series  of  turns  and  half  hitches,  laid  on  much  as  the 
sinew  on  the  sinew-back  bow.  This  is  very  interesting.  Length  of 
shaft,  44  inches;  foreshaft,  4£  inches;  point,  2  inches. 

Example  No.  129574,  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  is  a  barbed 
harpoon  from  Cape  Krusenstern,  Kotzebue  Sound.  The  delicate  shaft 
is  conical  in  shape,  tapering  from  the  foreshaft  backward,  and  slightly 
flattened  in  its  thicker  portion.  It  is  socketed  in  the  larger  end  for 
the  reception  of  the  foreshaft,  and  slightly  stained  red. 

The  foreshaft  is  of  whale's  bone,  cylindrical  in  shape.  The  tang  fits 
in  the  open  socket  of  the  shaft,  and  on  the  outside  the  two  bodies  are 
trimmed  down  so  as  to  form  one  continuous  surface.  Seizing  of  sinew 
twine.  The  socket  for  the  point  is  quite  large  and  extends  across  the 
wooden  plug  inserted  in  the  end  of  the  bone. 

The  hand  rest  is  a  slight  hook  of  ivory  set  in  the  shaft,  pierced  with 
one  triangular  hole  and  held  by  a  wrapping  of  sinew  thread,  which  is 
also  continued  around  the  shaft  a  dozen  times  and  fastened  off  by  being 
punched  into  the  wood. 

The  point  is  of  bone,  flat  on  one  side  and  rounded  on  the  other. 
Broad  shank.  Line  hole  almost  circular.  Barbs,  three  on  one  mar- 
gin and  two  on  the  other.  On  the  flat  side  of  the  point  a  shallow  gut- 
ter is  cut  from  the  line  hole  forward. 

The  line  is  of  seal  skin.  One  end  passes  through  the  line  hole  and  is 
fastened  by  a  common  slip  knot;  the  other  end  is  made  fast  to  the 
shaft,  about  9  inches  behind  the  hand  rest,  with  a  clove  hitch  of  three 
turns. 

The  assembling  line  is  of  rawhide,  one  end  caught  under  the  seizing 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  8. 


BARBED  HARPOON,  WITH  HAND  RESTS,  ST.  MICHAEL  ISLAND,  ALASKA. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

Cat.  No.  36068,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  283 

between  the  shaft  and  foreshaft,  and  the  other   end  pressed  into  a 
groove  in  the  wood  and  held  by  a  small  wedge. 

This  delicate  specimen  is  the  only  example  of  the  class  of  barbed 
harpoons  with  hand  rest  coming  from  a  point  north  of  Bering  Strait. 
Length  of  shaft,  4  feet  3  inches;  foreshaft,  7  inches;  point,  3  inches. 
Collected  by  Capt.  M.  A.  Healy,  of  the  U.  S.  Revenue  Marine. 


HARPOONS   OF   BERING    SEA. 


The  harpoons  of  this  area  were  fully  described  and  figured  by  Nel- 
son in  1899,  who  had  the  advantage  of  having  seen  the  specimens  at 
work.  The  massive  harpoons  of  Greenland  and  the  central  Eskimo 
are  wanting  here,  but  the  greatest  variety  of  forms  and  parts  is  to  be 
found.  Again,  if  the  flat  varieties  of  eastern  Asia,  with  line  hole  in 
the  plane  of  the  blade,  are  the  more  aboriginal,  their  nearest  kin  are 
to  be  seen,  not  in  Bering  Sea,  but  around  Greenland.  It  is  as  when  an 
Oxford  professor,  wishing  to  know  something  of  his  old-time  kin, 
visits,  not  the  nearest  English  town,  but  the  heart  of  some  New  World 
•colony.  The  Bering  Sea  Eskimo  have  been  profound^  affected  b}^  the 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  fur  trade  during  the  past  century  and  a 
half.  The  possession  of  steel  tools  has  revolutionized  their  fine  art; 
t>ut,  fortunately  for  this  study,  the  harpoon  has  kept  more  loyalty  to 
its  ancient  models.  There  are  barbed  varieties,  toggle  varieties,  and 
some  are  mixed.  There  are  those  which  are  thrust  with  the  hands, 
others  are  hurled  from  the  hand,  and  very  many  are  cast  from  throw- 
ing sticks.  Of  this  last-named  implement  a  number  of  type  forms  are 
to  be  seen  between  Mackenzie  River  and  Sitka.  Here  also  will  be 
found  feathered  harpoons,  those  with  bladders  attached  to  the  shaft,  and 
harpoon  arrows. x  In  the  more  southern  portions  of  the  Bering  Sea  area 
the  harpoon  attains  a  finesse  in  structure  and  appearance  nowhere  else 
seen.  The  collections  from  this  area  made  by  Nelson,  Turner,  Dall, 
Applegate,  and  Johnson  are  unparalleled  for  comparative  study. 

Among  a  large  collection  of  these  seal  darts  or  barbed  harpoons 
from  Unalakleet,  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Norton  Sound,  a  great 
majority  have  cylindrical  foreshafts  made  of  whale's  bone,  but  one 
or  two  specimens  have  the  heads  of  walrus  ivory  and  the  front  end 
tapered  in  conical  form.  Farther  south  this  characteristic  is  more 
abundant.  Barbs  on  the  points  are  three  on  one  margin  and  two  on 
the  other,  and  two  on  one  margin  and  one  on  the  other. 

According  to  Lucien  Turner,  the  harpoon  darts  with  very  thick 
foreshafts  and  elongated  bladders  attached  to  the  shaft  are  for  salmon. 
They  are  confined  to  Bristol  Bay  and  the  south  side  of  the  Alaskan 
peninsula,  so  far  as  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  concerned. 

Cat.  No.  33859  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  barbed  harpoon 
thrown  from  *the  hand  by  means  of  a  hand  rest  on  the  shaft.  Quite 
similar  is  No.  36068,  as  shown  in  Plate  8,  described  in  Nelson,  1899 


284  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

(p.  138).  Unless  otherwise  mentioned  the  specimens  described  below 
were  collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

The  shaft  is  of  soft  wood,  tapering  backward  to  a  point,  oval  in 
cross  section,  and  stained  red  in  the  front  portion.  For  the  attach- 
ment of  the  foreshaf t  a  roughly  conical  socket  is  excavated,  and  on  the 
upper  side  of  this  socket  a  slot  is  cut  through  from  the  outside.  In 
the  harpoons  whose  foreshafts  are  attached  in  this  way  this  slot  is 
universal — that  is,  the  tang  of  the  foreshaft  is  not  driven  into  a  cavity 
which  it  fits,  but  is  set  in  a  cavity  with  two  margins  which  can  be 
driven  close  together  by  the  shrinkage  of  the  seizing. 

The  foreshaft  is  of  whale's  bone,  nearly  cylindrical,  and  cut  off 
square  in  front.  The  tang  is  conoidal  in  form  and  terminates  with  a 
shoulder  where  it  joins  the  body  of  the  foreshaft.  A  plug  of  wood  is 
inserted  -in  the  front  end  of  the  foreshaft,  with  a  socket  for  the  tang  of 
the  point.  Feathers,  none;  but  on  the  side  of  the  shaft,  just  behind 
the  center  of  gravity,  is  aflat  piece  of  antler  or  bone  set  on  and  held  in 
place  b}T  a  lashing  of  rawhide  thong.  This  serves  as  a  stop  for  the 
end  of  the  harpoon,  the  latter  being  driven  like  a  javelin  from  the 
hand,  without  the  use  of  a  throwing  stick  of  any  kind. 

The  point  is  of  bone,  flattened  on  one  side  and  round  on  the  other, 
much  larger  than  that  of  the  variet}T  hurled  with  a  throwing  stick. 
The  shank  is  a  flattened  cone.  Barbs,  three  on  one  margin  and  two  on 
the  other.  In  all  of  this  class  of  harpoons  the  edges  or  sides  of  the 
point  are  sharp,  and  the  margins  of  the  barb  are  straight  on  one  side 
and  curved  on  the  other.  The  line  hole  is  oblong. 

The  line  is  of  rawhide  thong,  one  end  attached  to  the  point  and  the 
other  end  to  the  shaft  back  of  the  middle  by  a  clove  hitch. 

The  assembling  line  is  fastened  around  the  tang  of  the  foreshaft 
near  the  shoulder  and  is  continued  back  underneath  the  lashings,  of 
different  kinds,  to  near  the  top  end,  where  it  is  driven  into  the  wood 
and  forms  a  smooth  fastening. 

Length  of  shaft,  52  inches.  Length  of  foreshaft,  8  inches.  Length 
of  point,  4  inches.  This  specimen  is  from  St.  Michael.  Collected  by 
E.  W.  Nelson. 

A  toggle-head  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  33888,  U.S.N.M.)  from  Norton 
Sound  is  shown  in  fig.  81.  The  head  is  of  ivoiy.  The  noticeable  fea- 
tures about  it  are:  The  blade  is  in  the  same  plane  as  the  line  hole;  the 
line  hole  goes  directly  across  the  body  of  the  head;  the  shallow  socket 
is  exactly  behind  it  and  in  a  line  with  the  saw  cut.  There  is  a  single 
barb  or  spur  projecting  behind  the  socket  on  top  of  the  toggle  head. 
The  foreshaft  is  a  long  spindle  of  bone,  tapering  in  front  to  fit  the 
socket  of  the  toggle  head,  and  having  a  short  cone  at  the  base  for  the 
cavity  in  the  end  of  the  foreshaft.  A  hole  is  pierced  through  the  fore- 
shaft  and  a  loop  or  becket  passed  through  this  opening  and  around  the 
line,  so  that  when  the  animal  is  struck  the  foreshaft  is  withdrawn  from 


Report  of  U,  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  9. 


BARBED  HARPOON,  WITH  HAND  REST  AND  BLADDER,  NORTON  SOUND. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

Cat.  No.  33933,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


285 


the  head  and  remains  attached  to  the  line.  This  feature  should  be 
carefully  noted.  The  shaft  is  of  wood,  the  fore- 
shaft  of  ivory,  and  swollen  or  bulbous  at  the  outer 
end.  It  fits  into  the  wedge-shaped  cut  on  the  end  of 
the  shaft  and  is  held  tight  by  a  lashing  of  rawhide. 
This  lashing  continues  the  whole  length  of  the  shaft, 
being  caught  around  it  at  intervals  with  half  hitches, 
forming  an  assembling  line.  Attached  to(  the  shaft 
is  a  hand  rest  about  the  center  of  gravity  and  a 
sharpened  piece  of  bone  at  the  other  end.  The  line 
from  the  toggle  head,  after  passing  through  the 
loop  on  the  loose  shaft,  is  attached  to  the  shaft 
about  the  middle,  so  that  the  latter  forms  a  drag 
when  the  animal  is  once  struck.  This  implement  is 
not  thrown  by  means  of  a  throwing  stick,  but  from 
the  hand  of  a  hunter.  Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

A  barbed  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  33910,  U.S.N.M.) 
from  the  Norton  Sound  area,  to  be  thrown  from  the 
hand  and  not  from  a  throwing  stick,  is  shown  in 
fig.  82.  The  shaft  tapers  from  the  front  to  the 
rear  end,  and  has  a  hand  rest  on  the  side,  held  down 
by  sinew  thread.  The  foreshaft  is  a  cylinder  of 
bone,  and  fits  into  the  open  socket  of  the  shaft  by 
means  of  a  projection  or  tenon.  The  harpoon  head 
is  a  barbed  piece  of  bone.  The  line  passes  through 
the  line  hole  in  the  head  and  is  wrapped  several 
times  around  the  shaft,  fastened  off  with  a  series  of 
half  hitches,  and  nearer  to  the  butt  end.  The  as- 
sembling line,  in  this  example,  is  different  from  the 
one  just  described.  When  the  animal  is  struck,  the 
head  is  withdrawn  from  the  foreshaft,  the  thong 
unwraps  from  the  shaft,  which  stands  straight  in 
the  water  and  acts  as  a  drag  to  the  captured  ani- 
mal. It  is  from  St.  Michael. 

A  barbed  harpoon  with  hand  rest  (Cat.  No.  33933, 
U.S.N.M.),  from  St.  Michael,  Alaska,  is  shown  in 
Plate  9.  The  shaft  is  of  pine  wood,  elliptical  in 
section,  pointed  in  the  rear,  widening  toward  the 
middle  and  then  narrowing  again  toward  the  fore- 
shaft.  The  foreshaft  is  of  bone  or  antler,  a  flat 
cjdinder  in  section  and  a  truncated  cone  in  outline. 
It  has  a  hole  in  the  base  and  is  fitted  over  a  projec- 
tion or  tenon  in  the  end  of  the  shaft.  This  method 
of  joining  is  worthy  of  notice.  The  shoulder  of  the 
shaft  forms  a  neat  joint  with  the  rear  of  the  foreshaft. 
NAT  MUS  1900 20 


Fig.  81. 

TOGGLE  HEAD  HARPOON. 

Norton  Sound. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

Cat.  No.  33888,  U.S.N.M. 

In  the  middle 


286 


EEFOET    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


of  the  body  of  the  foreshaft  a  gutter  is  carved  to  receive  the  knot  in 
the  line.  A  hand  rest  on  the  middle  of  the  shaft  is 
triangular  in  outline,  with  a  wavy  margin  and  short 
flu  tings  on  the  surface.  It  is  pierced  with  three  holes 
and  set  against  the  side  of  the  shaft,  where  it  is  laid  in 
place  by  wrappings  of  sinew  thread.  The  fastening  off 
of  the  lashing  by  being  punched  in  the  soft  tissue  of  the 
wood  is  quite  characteristic  in  Eskimo  manufactures. 
The  head  has  three  barbs,  one  on  one  margin  and  two  on 
the  other,  and  is  flattened  on  one  side  and  angular  on 
the  other.  The  tang  is  flat  and  shouldered.  The  line 
hole  is  an  oblong  opening,  just  large  enough  to  hold  the 
rawhide  thong  and  give  it  play.  The  line, which  serves 
also  for  assembling  line,  is  of  stout  sealskin.  The  small 
bladder  is  attached  to  the  shaft.  Its  mouthpiece  and 
lashings  are  well  shown  in  the  drawings. 

Specimen  No.  33948  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is 
a  bridle  harpoon  for  a  throwing  stick,  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Yukon  River,  collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.  The 
shaft  is  of  light  pine  wood,  top-shaped  at  the  tip, 
suddenly  narrowed,  and  then  gradually  widened  to  the 
butt  end,  where  it  is  quite  expanded.  It  is  socketed 
for  the  shank  of  the  foreshaft.  The  foreshaft  is  of 
ivory,  attached  to  the  shaft  by  a  tang  which  fits  into 
the  socket.  It  is  perforated  just  below  the  shoulder 
for  the  reception  of  a  loop  of  rawhide,  which  is  caught 
on  either  side  under  the  seizing,  binding  the  shaft  and 
foreshaft  together.  This  serves  as  an  extra  strength- 
ening or  as  a  retrieving  device.  The  tip  end  of  the 
foreshaft  is  tapered  and  a  wooden  plug  inserted  for 
the  reception  of  the  point.  Two  whole  feathers  are 
attached  in  the  usual  manner,  punched  into  the  wood, 
all  their  tip  ends  and  the  butt  ends  held  down  by  a 
wrapping  of  the  assembling  line.  The  assembling  line 
passes  from  the  front  end  of  the  shaft  to  the  inner 
end  of  the  feathers.  The  point  is  of  ivory,  line  hole 
oblong,  tang  conical,  with  a  shoulder.  Martingale  of 
sinew  string,  the  two  ends  fastened  in  the  usual  place — 
one  near"  the  foreshaft,  the  other  back  of  the  middle, 
fastened  by  a  clove  hitch.  The  assembling  line  acts  as 
a  lashing  for  the  shaft  and  the  foreshaft,  passes  back- 
ward by  the  regular  series  of  half  hitches,  and  is  fas- 
tened, off  at  the  butt  end  as  a  seizing  to  the  feathers. 
Especial  attention  is  called  t  to  the  hole  near  the  tang 

of  the  foreshaft;  a  similar  hole  is  found  through  the  inner  end  of  the 


Fig.  82. 

BARBED  HARPOON. 

St.  Michael  Island. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nel- 
son. Cat.  No.  33910, 
U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  287 

foreshaf t  near  the  tang.  This  peculiarity  is  almost  entirely  confined 
to  the  area  between  Cape  Dall  and  Nunivak.  Length  of  shaft,  46 
inches;  foreshaf  t,  5  inches;  point,  3i  inches. 

Specimen  No.  33952  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  barbed 
harpoon  without  bridle  for  throwing  stick,  from  Askeenuk,  below 
Point  Dall,  collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.  The  shaft  is  of  light  pine 
wood,  nearly  uniform  thickness  throughout,  slightly  expanded  at  the 
butt,  and  cut  into  a  truncated  wedge  in  front,  which  fits  into  a  smaller 
slot  in  the  foreshaf  t.  The  foreshaf  t  is  of  ivory,  almost  cylindrical, 
and  a  little  expanded  in  the  front 'and  tapering  toward  the  tip,  into 
which  a  plug  of  wood  is  inserted  for  the  reception  of  the  tang  of  the 
point.  Into  the  butt  end  of  the  foreshaf  t  is  sawed  a  wedge-shaped 
slot  on  the  ends  of  the  wings.  Thesje  formed  projections  are  left  for 
the  lashing  which  joins  the  two  parts  together.  The  lashing  is  also 
held  in  place  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  joint  by  shoulders  on  the 
foreshaft  wrapped  with  sinew  braid,  which  forms  a  strong  joint. 
Three  feathers  are  pressed  into  the  wood  near  the  butt  end  and 
wrapped  with  sinew  braid  at  their  inner  extremities,  the  braid  con- 
tinuing to  form  the  assembling  line  of  the  shaft.  Here,  as  in  other 
examples,  a  dozen  or  more  turns  are  closely  wrapped  around  the  shaft 
about  a  foot  from  the  end.  The  point  is  of  bone.  Barbs,  three  on 
one  side  and  two  on  the  other.  Line  hole  oblong  and  quadrangular. 
Tang  conical  and  shouldered.  Through  the  line  hole  is  fastened  a 
narrow  sealskin  thong  3  feet  or  more  long.  This  is  attached  by  its 
other  end  around  the  shaft  near  the  joint  with  the  foreshaft  by  a  clove 
hitch.  When  the  point  is  driven  into  a  seal. by  means  of  a  throwing 
stick,  the  tang  is  withdrawn  from  the  foreshaft,  which  sinks  in  the 
water,  and  the  shaft  floats  with  the  feathers  upward  to  act  as  a  buoy 
and  also  as  a  drag  to  slacken  the  pace  of  the  animal.  Similar  to  this 
are  Nos.  33950,  33949,  33954,  and  33955.  In  all  of  these  the  line  is 
fastened  to  the  shaft  near  the  foreshaft.  Length  of  shaft,  44f  inches; 
foreshaft,  6i  inches;  point,  3  inches. 

Examples  Nos.  34004,  34011, 34016,  34020, 34002, 34008, 34017, 34022, 
34018,  34001,  34023,  34014,  34003,  34021,  33992,  33991,  33999,  33994, 
33978,  and  33995  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  are  barbed  seal  har- 
poons for  throwing  sticks,  and  form  a  large  collection  of  these  objects 
from  various  places  around  Norton  Bay.  They  have  foreshafts  of 
whale's  bone,  cylindrical,  attached  to  the  shaft  by  a  shank  fitted  into 
a  socket  in  the  end  of  the  shaft. 

The  shank  of  the  foreshaft.is  somewhat  wedge-shaped  in  cross  sec- 
tion, the  edge  of  which  is  run  through  a  slot  extending  from  the  out- 
side to  the  inside  of  the  end  of  the  shaft,  to  allow  the  shrinking  of  the 
sinew  wrapping  on  the  outside  to  bind  all  the  parts  strongly  together. 

Most  of  these  specimens  from  this  area  have  two  feathers,  though  in 
some  cases  there  is  only  one. 


288 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


The  head  and  contiguous  parts  of  a  small 
toggle  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  37380,  U.S. KM.) 
for  seal,  from  Chalitmut,  collected  by  E.  W. 
Nelson,  is  shown  in  fig.  83.  The  body  of  the 
head  is  of  ivory,  somewhat  rectangular  in  cross 
section,  but  carved  and  flattened  on  both  sides 
in  parts  of  threes.  The  blade  is  set  into  a  saw 
cut  at  the  tip  of  the  head  and  not  held  by  any 
rivet.  The  socket  for  the  loose  shaft  is  a  slen- 
der cone  truncated  within,  the  front  end  of  the 
loose  shaft  being  sawed  off.  The  butt  end  of 
the  body  is  beveled  out.  A  long  slope  and 
three  barbs  are  formed  at  the  hinder  edge  of 
this  bevel  and  ornamented  with  concentric 
circles  and  lines.  The  line  hole  passes  straight 
through  the  body,  as  in  many  other  examples 
of  this  type.  The  loose  shaft  is  a  spindle- 
shaped  piece  of  bone,  longer  on  the  front  slope. 
The  hinder  end  is  sharpened  to  fit  into  a  groove. 
In  the  end  of  the  foreshaft  a  hole  is  bored 
through  the  thick  portion  of  the  loose  shaft, 
and  through  this  hole  and  around  the  leader  or 
line  is  formed  a  grommet  of  sinew  cord.  The 
two  ends  of  the  leader  are  overlapped  and 
united  by  a  notch. 

A  small  toggle  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  37395, 
U.S.N.M.)  of  the  Alaskan  Eskimo,  at  Chalit- 
mut, on  the  north  of  Kuskokwim  Bay,  is  shown 
in  fig.  84.  It  is  a  type  of  the  region  and  is 
made  with  a  great  deal  of  artistic  skill.  Blades 
are  nowadays  of  brass,  copper,  and  other  met- 
als, often  of  slate,  inserted  into  a  small  toggle 
head  of  ivory  transversely  to  the  plane  of  the 
barbs,  the  plate  intersecting  the  barb,  which 
is  bifurcated  and  sometimes  trif urcated.  The 
body  is  also  ornamented  with  graceful  lines, 
herring  bone  patterns,  and  circles.  Into  the 
socket  of  the  headpiece  is  inserted  the  point 
of  a  small  bone  loose  shaft,  which  fits  by 
its  lower  end  into  a  shallow  socket  of  the 
foreshaft.  Through  the  line  hole  of  the  head 
is  a  loop  of  rawhide,  the  ends  neatly  spliced 
together  by  a  frapping  with  sinew  string. 
The  loose  shaft  is  kept  from  being  lost  by  a 
little  grommet,  made  of  sinew  passing  through 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


289 


it  and  around  the  rawhide  loop.     The  whole  work  of  all  these  speci- 
mens is  very  neatly  done.     Length  of  head,  If 
inches.     Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

Catalogue  No.  37955  is  a  toggle  head  of  seal 
harpoon.  The  parts  of  this  specimen  which  are 
attached  are  the  head,  with  its  loop  or  leader,  and 
the  loose  shaft,  with  its  runner  or  grommet  of 
rawhide  passing  over  and  inclosing  the  leader  of 
the  head. 

The  body  is  of  bone  or  ivory  in  the  form  of  a 
flattened  cone.     The  spur  is  beveled  and  curved 
up  at  the  point.     Two  delicate  barbs.are  parallel 
on  the  outside  and  divided  by  a  furrow  along  the 
back.     Blade   of   iron,  triangular,  with   convex 
edges,  inserted   in   the   blade   slit  and    riveted. 
Plane  of  the  blade  parallel  with  the  line  hole. 
Shaft  socket  in  the  spur  narrow  and  deep.     Line 
hole  transversely  through  the  body.    Line  grooves     9 
extended  to  the  end  of  the  barbs  and  ornamented     | 
with  engraved  lines.     Leader  of  rawhide,  neatly    |      8 
spliced  by  seizing  at  the  ends,  and  the  space  be-     -H  r  & 
tween  lashed  with  double  hitches  passing  between     «  |  w 
the  rawhide  ends.     A  narrow  seizing  holds  the     I  |  ^  , 
two  elements  close  to  the  toggle  head.     It  may  be     c  i '  o 
questioned  whether  the  peculiar  curves  of  back 
and  belly  give  the  head. a  start  in  toggling  itself     «  f  | 
in  the  wound. 

Foreshaft  of  bone,  spindle-shaped,  and  attached  § 
to  the  loop  of  the  toggle  head  by  a  small  running  jjj 
loop  or  grommet  of  rawhide. 

Length,  3-J  inches.  Eskimo  of  Sf  agamute,  north 
of  Bristol  Bay.  Cat.  No.  37955,  U.  S.  National 
Museum.  Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

The  illustration  in  Plate  10  shows  the  construc- 
tion of  the  larger  Bering  Sea  harpoons  (Cat.  Nos. 
43346  and  153727),  cast  from  the  hand,  and  used  in 
killing  large  seals,  walrus,  and  white  whales.  They 
have  stout  wooden  shafts,  from  4  to  7  feet  long,  with 
a  hand  rest  near  the  center  made  of  bone  or  ivory, 
neatly  fitted  on  and  held  in  place  by  a  lashing  of 
baleen,  rawhide,  or  sinew  cord.  The  foreshaft  is  of 
bone  and  ivory,  neatly  fashioned,  fitted  to  the  end 
of  the  shaft  by  a  tenon  and  socket,  and  held  firmly 
by  a  seizing  of  baleen.  The  foreshaft  is  pierced 
near  its  base  for  the  line  which  holds  all  the  parts 
together,  and  has  a  socket  on  top  for  the  loose  shaft.  At  the  butt  end  of 


290 


REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 


the  shaft  is  a  bone  pick,  attached  by  a  wedge-shaped  joint,  the  bone  fitting 
into  a  kerf  in  the  wood.  The  upper  part  of  the  pick  is  bored  through 
for  the  assembling  line.  Around  the  joint  is  a  lashing  of  baleen, 
neatly  laid  on,  the  assembling  line  being  neatly  interlaced  with  the 
wrapping.  Especial  attention  is  called  to  the  fastening  off  and  the 
knots  on  the  shaft.  The  foreshafts  of  the  large  Bering  Sea  harpoons 
belong  to  the  two  quite  distinct  forms,  the  spindle-shaped  and  the 
conoidal.  On  the  left  side  of  Plate  10  is  shown  the  form  and  mount- 
ing of  a  spindle-shaped  loose  shaft,  and  on  the  right  side  that  of  a 
conoidal  form.  In  this  example  the  projection  is  on  the  loose  shaft 
and  the  socket  in  the  foreshaf t.  In  both  forms  a  hole  has  been  bored 
through  the  loose  shaft  for  the  assembling  line.  In  these  harpoons 
the  heads  belong  to  Murdoch's  later  t}rpe;  that  is,  the  blade  and  line 
hole  are  in  the  same  plane,  at  right  angles  to  the 
longest  diameter  of  the  cross  section  of  the  tog- 
gle head.  The  blades  of  these  harpoons  are  of 
slate,  iron,  brass,  and,  in  a  few  specimens,  of 
jade-like  material.  The  toggle  head  is  attached 
to  the  main  line  by  means  of  what  Murdoch  calls 
the  leader,  which  is  a  stout  rawhide  thong,  1  to  2 
feet  long,  passed  through  the  line  hole,  the  two 
ends  being  overlapped  and  seized  together;  near 
the  head  a  few  turns  of  fine  thong  or  sinew  twine 
hold  the  two  sides  of  the  loop  together,  forming 
a  becket.  At  the  other  end  the  leader  is  spliced 
into  a  becket  on  the  end  of  the  line.  The  line, 
when  the  head  is  ready  for  action  is  "done  up" 
on  the  shaft,  the  far  end  being  securely  tied. 
When  the  game  is  struck,  the  head  is  withdrawn, 
the  loose  shaft  unstripped,  the  line  unrolls,  and 
the  shaft  acts  as  a  drag. 

An  artistic  little  toggle  head  of  bone  and  iron 
from  Cape  Nome  (Cat.  No.  44484,  U.S.N.M.),  on  the  northern  shore  of 
Norton  Sound,  is  shown  in  fig.  85.  Body  is  somewhat  pyramidal,  the 
upper  and  lower  surface  being  elegantly  fluted  and  ridged.  The  blade 
is  deltoid,  with  square  butt  and  slightly  convex  margins,  set  deeply  into 
the  tapering  point  of  the  body  in  the  plane  of  the  line  hole  and  fastened 
with  a  bone  rivet.  The  line  hole  passes  straight  through  the  body  of 
the  toggle  head,  the  ends  being  flanked  by  triangular  line  grooves. 
"Barbs,  two  cocked  up  and  flared  outward  and  bounded  by  the  orna- 
mental ridges,  which  closely  follow  the  outlines  of  the  back  and  termi- 
nate gracefully  in  the  tips  of  the  barbs.  Butt  end  a  curved  plane, 
upright  below  and  tapering  above. 

A  cast-iron  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  44747,  U.S.N.M.),  from  Sledge 
Island,  Alaska,  just  south  of  Bering  Strait,  all  in  one  piece — exactly 


Fig.  85. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Cape  Nome,  Alaska. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.    Cat. 

No.  44484,  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  10. 


LARGER  BERING  SEA  HARPOON. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 
Cat.  Nos.  43346  and  153727,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


291 


similar  to  the  little  seal  harpoon  heads  of  ivory — blade  of  iron,  and 
bifurcated  barbs,  is  shown  in  fig.  86. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson.     This  is  the  last  word  in  the  inventional 
history  of  the  toggle  harpoon  head.     From  this  point  it  enters  the 
world-embracing  commerce,  being  cast  in  metal  and 
sold  to  island  peoples  all  about  the  Pacific  Ocean.     It 
has  no  voice  in  settling  the  question  how  f ar  similarities 
in  aboriginal  arts  argue  for  contact  or  sameness  of  mind 
and  its  environments. 

Specimens  Nos.  45429  and  45430,  in  .the  U.  S.  National 
Museum,  are  barbed  harpoons  from  Cape  Nome,  the 
northwestern  corner  of  Norton  Sound,  Alaska.  These 
are  similar  to  the  Sledge  Island  specimens  without 
feathers,  one  of  them  having  the  assembling  line  of 
sinew  thread  and  the  other  of  rawhide. 

The  measurements  of  No.  45429  are:  Shaft,  45i 
inches;  foreshaft,  4  inches;  point,  3  inches.  Measure- 
ments of  No.  45430  are:  Shaft,  46  inches;  foreshaft, 
4  inches;  point,  2f  inches. 

A  bone  toggle  head  (Cat.  No.  46154,  U.S. N.M.)  of 
medium  size,  from  Port  Clarence,  just 
south  of  Bering  Strait,  Alaska,  is  shown 
in  fig.  87.  Body  conoidal  in  form,  ellipti- 
cal in  section,  and  higher  than  broad. 
Blade  of  iron,  deltoid  in  form,  set  deeply 
in  the  slit  and  riveted  with  bone  or  wood. 
Line  hole  straight  through,  wider  behind 
and  run  out  into  well-defined  line  grooves.  Barbs  two, 
formed  by  the  bifurcation  of  the  back,  being  angular, 
cocked  up,  and  flared  out.  Socket  for  the  foreshaft  shal- 
low and  having  a  sharp  edge  on  the  butt,  which  is  a  single 
curved  surface,  nearly  perpendicular  below,  quite  elon- 
gated above  the  socket.  Length,  3£  inches.  Collected 
by  Dr.  T.  H.  Bean.  Of  similar  character  to  No.  46154  are 
many  other  pieces  in  the  Museum.  In  fact,  when  the  shape 
arrives  at  a  certain  stage  beyond  the  inventor,  it  seems  to 
turn  into  the  highroad  of  mechanical  monotonies. 

Plate  11,  Catalogue  No.  48156  in  the  U.  S.  National  Mu- 
seum, is  a  barbed  seal  harpoon  projected  from  a  throwing 
stick,  from  Sledge  Island,  on  the  northwestern  shore  of 
Norton    Sound,  collected   by  E.  W.  Nelson.     The  shaft 
is  of  light  pine  wood,  tapering  gently  from  tip  to  butt 
and  slightly  flattened  in  cross  section.     The  tip  end  is  socketed  for 
the  reception  of  the  tang  of  the  foreshaft.     The  peculiarity  of  four 
specimens  from  this  locality  is  that  the  socket  is  split  very  little  on  the 


Fig.  86. 

IRON  TOGGLE   HEAD. 

Sledge  Island. 
Collected  by  E.  W.  Nel- 
son.    Cat.   No.  44747. 
U.S.N.M 


Fig.  87. 

TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Port    Clarence, 

Alaska, 
Collected  by  T.  H. 

Bean.    Cat.   No. 

4615i.  U.S.N.M. 


292  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 

outside,  to  allow  for  shrinkage  in  hafting.  The  foreshaf t,  as  in  most 
other  specimens,  is  of  whale's  bone  and  cylindrical.  The  shank  for  fas- 
tening to  the  shaft  is  shouldered  and  notched  for  the  attachment  of  the 
assembling  line.  No  feathers;  but  on  another  specimen,  No.  48153, 
three  half  feathers,  with  plume  inside,  attached  to  their  ends,  as  in 
example  No.  129585,  from  Cape  Blossom.  The  point  is  of  bone,  flat 
on  one  side  and  rounded  on  the  other.  Barbs,  three  on  one  margin 
and  two  on  the  other.  The  shank  of  the  point  is  flat.  The  line  is  of 
dark  seal  rawhide,  attached  by  one  end  through  the  line  hole  of  the 
point  by  means  of  two  double  splices  an  inch  apart.  It  is  split  near 
the  middle,  the  two  ends  being  fastened  to  the  shaft  about  18  inches 
apart  by  means  of  a  clove  hitch. 

The  front  assembling  line  is  looped  around  the  shank  of  the  fore- 
shaft  by  a  clove  hitch  wrapped  around  the  end  of  the  shaft  to  prevent 
slipping,  and  is  continued  to  the  upper  attachment  of  the  martingale. 
Between  its  two  knots  the  martingale  acts  as  an  assembling  line. 
From  the  hindmost  knot  of  the  martingale  an  assembling  line  of 
sinew  thread  proceeds  backward  for  4  inches,  where  a  dozen  turns  are 
made  and  the  end  is  punched  into  the  wood  near  the  end  of  the  shaft. 
Between  the  two  knots  of  the  martingale  the  shaft  has  been  mended 
by  a  series  of  half  hitches  and  clove  hitches  made  in  sinew  thread. 

In  specimen  No.  48154,  from  the  same  localit}7,  the  upper  assembling 
line  is  in  fine  seal  rawhide.  Length  of  shaft,  46  inches;  foreshaf  t,  4 
inches;  point,  3  inches. 

Specimen  No.  48365  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  barbed  har- 
poon for  throwing  stick,  from  Nunivak  Island,  south  of  Yukon  mouth. 
The  shaft  is  of  soft  wood,  nearly  uniform  in  thickness  throughout, 
truncated  and  wedge-shaped  at  the  upper  extremity  to  fit  into  a  corre- 
sponding cut  in  the  foreshaf  t.  Especial  attention  might  be  called  to 
the  expansion  of  the  small  end  of  the  wedge  to  correspond  with  depres- 
sions in  the  shouldering  on  the  parts  of  the  foreshaft  which  overlap 
the  wedge,  in  order  to  prevent  the  joint  from  coming  apart.  This  is  a 
step  toward  a  dovetail. 

The  foreshaft  is  of  walrus  ivory,  slightly  expanded  in  front  and 
conoid  on  the  top.  The  tang  has  a  wedge-shaped  saw  cut  to  fit  on  the 
end  of  the  shaft.  The  two  flanges  are  shouldered  where  they  join  the 
body  of  the  foreshaft,  and  have  notches  cut  on  them  at  the  outer 
extremity  for  the  lashing.  This  is  driven  on  the  end  of  the  shaft  and 
the  two  are  seized  together  by  means  of  sinew  braid  laid  on  neatly. 
A  small  plug  of  wood  is  inserted  in  the  outer  end  of  the  foreshaft, 
having  a  conical  socket  for  the  butt  end  of  the  barb. 

At  the  base  of  the  shaft  there  are  two  sets  of  black  feathers,  one 
above  the  other.  Each  feather  is  whole,  its  inner  end  seized  to  the 
shaft  by  means  of  the  assembling  line,  which  is  wrapped  several  times 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason, 


PLATE  1 1 


BARBED  HARPOON  FOR  THROWING  STICK,  SLEDGE  ISLAND. 

Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

Cat.  No.  48156,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  293 

around.  The  top  ends  of  the  feathers  are  firmly  driven  into  holes  in 
the  wood. 

The  head  is  of  ivory,  flat  on  one  face  and  angular  on  the  other.  The 
shank  is  nearly  conical,  fitting  into  the  socket  of  the  f  oreshaf  t.  Line 
hole  elongated.  Barbs,  three  on  one  margin  and  two  on  the  other. 

The  line  or  martingale  of  the  harpoon  is  of  rawhide;  the  undivided 
end  is  passed  through  the  line  hole  of  the  head  and  tied  in  a  bowline 
knot.  The  two  ends  of  the  martingale  are  attached  to  the  shaft  near 
the  feather  and  near  the  foreshaf  t  by  clove  hitches.  The  sinew  braid 
by  means  of  which  the  shaft  and  foreshaf  t  are  seized  together  is  con- 
tinued on  toward  the  feathers,  with  here  and  there  a  half  hitch,  until 
it  reaches  the  rear  feathers,  where  it  forms  the  seizing,  and  then  passes 
backward  to  become  the  seizing  of  the  front  set  of  feathers,  and  it  is 
fastened  on  by  being  punched  into  the  wood  in  a  similar  way  to  the 
top  end  of  the  feathers. 

Among  the  Eskimo  tools  there  is  a  little  ivory  point  belonging  to 
the  outfit  of  the  bow-and-arrow  maker,  used  especially  for  making 
holes  in  soft  wood,  into  which  the  ends  of  feathers  and  lines  are 
punched  to  form  a  smooth  fastening.  It  seems  to  be  very  effective. 
Length  of  shaft,  3  feet  7  inches;  length  of  f  oreshaf  t  and  shank, 
7f  inches;  length  of  point,  3  inches.  Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 

A  sea-otter  harpoon  dart  Pishudak,  (Cat.  No.  72415,  U.S.N.M.), 
from  Bristol  Bay,  Alaska,  is  shown  in  Plate  12.  In  its  composi- 
tion it  resembles  a  large  number  of  specimens  used  in  an  important 
industry.  It  will  be  described,  therefore,  in  detail.  The  head  is  of 
ivory,  flat  on  one  side  and  angular  in  section  on  the  other.  There  are 
three  barbs,  two  on  the  left  margin,  one  on  the  right;  the  line  hole  is 
oblong.  The  tang  fitting  into  a  socket  at  the  end  of  the  foreshaf  t  is  a 
little  cone,  shouldered  above.  The  line  is  of  braided  sinew,  fastened 
into  the  line  hole  of  the  barbed  head  by  a  bend  and  knot.  The  other 
end  in  this  and  kindred  specimens  has  not  the  martingale,  but  is  tied 
to  the  shaft  near  the  middle  of  the  bladder.  When  the  animal  is 
struck,  the  barbed  head  pulls  out  from  the  f oreshaft,  the  line  unrolls 
from  the  shaft,  the  bone  head  drops,  and  the  bladder  rises.  The  appa- 
ratus acts  then  both  as  a  drag  and  a  signal.  The  f  oreshaft,  of  bone,  is 
bill-shaped,  cut  off  square  at  the  base,  excepting  a  slight  tenon  in  form 
of  a  cylinder  to  fit  into  a  socket  at  the  front  end  of  the  shaft.  In  the 
front  end  of  the  foreshaf  t  a  cylinder  of  pine  wood  is  set,  and  this  must 
be  noted  on  all  barbed  harpoons.  The  purpose  is  to  give  the  tang  of 
the  head  a  firmer  hold  when  the  weapon  is  ready  for  action.  The 
shaft  of  this  and  other  like  specimens  is  of  wood,  tapering  just  slightly 
from  front  to  rear.  The  socket  for  the  tenon  of  the  foreshaf  t  is  care- 
fully bored,  and  wrapped  with  sinew  braid.  The  same  braid  is  con- 
tinued down  the  shaft  for  assembling  line,  and  serves  also  for  attach- 
ing the  float,  which  in  all  small  harpoons  of  this  class  is  made  from 


294  REPORT    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 

bladders,  stomachs,  or  intestines  of  seal  or  walrus.  They  are  cleaned 
out,  one  end  fastened  up  securely,  and  into  the  other  a  mouthpiece 
with  plug  is  set  for  purpose  of  inflation.  The  subject  is  discussed  by 
Nelson.1  In  the  example  shown  the  process  of  inserting  a  stud  or  plug- 
into  the  float  where  it  has  been  pierced  is  illustrated.  Length  of  shaft, 
4A  inches;  length  of  foreshaft,  2-J-  inches;  length  of  barb,  4J-  inches. 
Specimen  No.  11356  is  quite  similar.  Length  of  shaft,  46i  inches; 
length  of  foreshaft,  3  inches. 

Examples  No.  8004  to  8007  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  are  feath- 
ered harpoon  darts  from  Bristol  Bay.  The  shaft  is  very  little  expanded 
in  front  and  slightly  expanded  at  the  nock.  There  are  three  half  feathers 
neatly  trimmed  and  bound  on  in  front  by  the  assembling  line  which  is 
also  used  to  seize  the  foreshaft,  wrapped  around  the  shaft  and  ends  at 
the  feathers.  The  feathers  are  seized  at  the  nock  with  a  strip  of  split 
quill  and  are  further  held  in  place  by  a  thread  which  holds  the  mid- 
rib of  the  feather  to  the  shaft  of  the  dart  at  five  places.  The  feather 
seizing  at  the  nock  is  noticeable  in  all  of  these  specimens  and  separates 
them  from  the  others  in  the  collection. 

The  foreshaft,  of  ivory,  is  conical,  smaller  at  the  butt  end,  where  it 
is  inserted  into  the  shaft  by  means  of  a  shoulder  plug  which  is  driven 
into  the  socket  at  the  end  of  the  shaft.  The  front  end  of  the  foreshaft 
is  abruptly  conical  and  finished  off  with  -a  wooden  plug  which  has  a 
pit  or  socket  for  the  barbed  point.  The  point  is  of  bone  and  has  two- 
barbs  on  one  side  and  one  on  the  other.  Length  of  shaft,  44i  inches; 
of  foreshaft,  5i  inches;  of  point,  3  inches.  Collected  by  Dr.  T.  T. 
Minor.  Similar  to  these  are  Nos.  19378  and  19380,  collected  by  the 
Rev.  James  Curley,  having  in  all  respects  the  same  characteristics, 
excepting  that  the  seizing  at  the  nock  is  not  of  quill,  but  a  continua- 
tion of  the  thread  which  holds  the  shaft  of  the  feather  to  the  shaft  of 
the  spear. 

Plate  13  (Cat.  No.  90416,  U.  S.N.M.)  is  a  sea-otter  spear  from  Ugashik, 
Bristol  Bay,  Alaska.  The  shaft  is  of  wood,  tapering  from  the  fore  end 
to  the  rear  end.  The  head  is  of  bone  and  has  two  barbs  on  one  margin 
and  one  on  the  other.  The  line  hole  is  small  and  has  no  line  grooves. 
The  tang  is  whittled  off  thin  to  fit  into  a  delicate  socket  on  the  end  of 
the  shaft.  The  leader  or  loop  on  the  barbed  head  is  a  narrow  strip  of 
sealskin  doubled  through  the  line  hole  and  seized  together.  The  ends 
are  also  united  in  such  a  way  that  the  loop  is  closed  in  the  middle.  At 
the  other  end  the  thong  is  doubled,  passed  through  an  eyelet,  oVer  the 
projecting  point  to  form  a  "detacher."  On  the  shaft  at  five  places  are 
bands  of  birch  bark  and  around  these  are  wrapped  sinew  twine  in  half 
hitches  for  the  purpose  of  retrieving  the  parts  of  the  shaft  if  it  should 
be  broken.  The  bladder  is  a  portion  of  the  intestine  of  a  seal,  having 

1  The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,  1899,  pp.  40  to  145. 


Report  of  U.  S.  NationahMuseum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  12. 


SEA  OTTER  HARPOON,  BRISTOL  BAY,  ALASKA. 

Collected  by  C.  L.  McKay. 

Cat.  No.  72415,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  295 

a  delicate  mouthpiece  of  ivory,  neatly  set  on  to  the  side  of  the  shaft 
by  wrappings  of  sinew  thread  passed  through  two  holes  bored  in  its 
upper  portion.  The  other  end  of  the  bladder  is  bound  to  the  rawhide 
thong,  which  is  secured  by  being  pushed  under  the  wrapping  of  sinew 
thread  between  it  and  the  birch-bark  packing.  The  line  is  of  rawhide 
and  is  securely  fastened  to  the  ' '  detacher  "  at  one  end  by  a  bend,  which 
is  held  in  place  by  a  figure-of-8  wrapping  of  sinew  thread.  The  rest 
of  the  line  is  wound  about  the  shaft  when  the  spear  is  ready  for 
action,  the  other  end  being  attached  to  the  shaft  between  the  two  ends 
of  the  bladder.  When  the  animal  is  struck,  the  head  unships,  the  line 
unrolls,  the  head  of  the  shaft  drops  into  the  water  and  the  whole  acts 
as  a  drag  and  a  signal  to  show  the  position  of  the  game. 

Examples  Nos.  90417  to  90419  in,  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  are 
feathered  sea-otter  harpoon  darts  from  Ugashik,  north  of  the  Alaskan 
peninsula.  The  shaft  is  of  light  pine  wood,  very  nearly  cylindrical, 
and  tapering  slightly  toward  the  front.  The  foreshaf t  is  of  bone  and 
has  a  plug  on  the  inner  or  butt  end  which  fits  into  a  socket  on  the  end 
of  the  shaft,  and  the  joint  is  seized  by  a  fine  sinew  or  intestine  braid, 
the  inner  end  of  which  is  continued  backward  with  half  hitches  for  an 
assembling  line.  Near  the  feather  a  band  of  this  braid  an  inch  in 
width  is  formed,  and  4  inches  above  the  feather  is  another  one  around 
the  inner  end  to  the  feathers.  There  are  three  feathers,  seized  in  front 
by  the  assembling  line,  and  at  the  nock  by  a  separate  wrapping  of 
braid.  They  are  split  and  further  held  down  by  a  light  thread,  which 
binds  the  shaft  of  them  to  the  shaft  of  the  dart  in  five  places  by  half 
hitches. 

This  method  of  attaching  the  feathers  is  found  in  Nos.  8004  to  8006 
and  seems  to  be  typical  of  the  region. 

The  line  or  martingale  is  attached  to  the  shaft  4  inches  behind  the 
foreshaft  and  4  inches  in  front  of  the  feather.  The  point  is  small  and 
has  three  barbs  on  one  side,  and  is  attached  to  the  line  by  means  of  a 
hole  bored  in  the  shank  and  fitted  into  the  foreshaft  by  a  tang  which 
is  nearly  cylindrical.  Length  of  shaft,  4  feet;  of  foreshaft,  5i  inches; 
of  point,  If  inches.  Collected  by  William  J.  Fisher. 

The  darts  are  called  Nagik  kujat;  the  bone  foreshaft,  Mamkuk;  the 
line,  Punak;  the  bone  head,  Kugichalugak;  -the  feathers,  Nakchute. 

A  complete  toggle  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  16033T,  U.S.N.M.),  with  line 
float  and  line  board,  from  Kusilvak,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  River, 
in  Alaska,  is  shown  in  Plates  14  to  15.  The  toggle  head  shown  in  Plate 
15  is  of  ivory,  a  delicate  object,  perfect  in  all  its  details.  In  outline 
it  resembles  the  head  of  a  duck.  The  blade  is  set  into  the  saw-cut  at 
the  point  of  the  body,  and  in  the  plane  of  the  line  hole,  which  is  bored 
straight  through  from  margin  to  margin.  The  barb  is  cut  into  three 
points,  which  form  a  part  of  the  ornamentation.  Through  the  line 
hole  passes  a  long  loop,  which  is  neatly  spliced  at  its  ends  and  wrapped 
NAT  MUS  1900 21 


296  REPOET   OF   NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 

and  knotted  so  as  to  keep  it  in  shape.  At  its  other  extremity  it  unites 
with  the  end  of  a  long  rawhide  line,  which  in  turn  is  looped  at  its 
other  end  to  a  becket  or  loop  of  sealskin  float,  and  frequently  an  addi- 
tional line  is  spliced  between  the  two.  This  line  rests  upon  a  flat 
board  frame,  which  is  thus  described.1 

The  float  board  consists  of  a  strong,  oval  hoop  of  spruce  made  in  two  U-shaped 
pieces,  with  the  ends  brought  together  and  beveled  to  form  a  neatly-fitting  joint, 
which  is  wrapped  firmly  with  a  lashing  of  spruce  root;  the  sides  have  holes  by  which 
a  thin  board  is  fastened  to  the  under  side,  the  ends  of  which  are  notched  in  front  to 
form  a  coarsely  serrated  pattern  with  five  points  that  are  inserted  in  slots  cut  in  the 
front  of  the  hoop.  The  front  of  the  board  is  oval,  and  the  sides  taper  gradually  to 
the  points  of  two  projecting  arms,  which  extend  4  or  5  inches  below  the  bow;  between 
these  arms  a  deep  slot  is  cut,  with  the  inner  border  rounded.  The  board  has  a  round 
hole  in  the  center  and  a  crescentic  hole  on  each  side  (Plate  LIV,  fig.  10). 

On  the  kaiak  the  float  board  is  placed  in  front  of  the  hunter  with  the  arm-like 
points  thrust  beneath  the  cross  lashing  to  hold  it  in  position,  and  upon  it  lies  the  coil 
of  float  line  with  the  spear  attached  and  resting  on  the  spear  guards  on  the  right  rail 
of  the  boat;  the  end  of  the  line  is  passed  back  under  the  hunter's  right  arm  to  the 
float,  which,  fully  inflated,  rests  on  the  deck  just  back  of  the  manhole. 

When  the  spear  is  thrown,  the  coil  runs  off  rapidly  and  the  float  is  thrown  over- 
board. In  some  cases,  when  the  prey  is  vigorous  and  leads  a  long  pursuit,  another 
line,  like  that  shown  in  figure  9,  Plate  LIV,  is  made  fast  through  the  semilunar  ori- 
fices in  the  center  of  the  float  board,  which  latter,  when  drawn  through  the  water  by 
means  of  this  cord,  assumes  a  position  nearly  at  a  right  angle  to  the  course  of  the 
animal  and  forms  a  heavy  drag  to  impede  its  progress. 

When  hunting  on  the  ice,  the  float  board,  with  the  line  coiled  upon  it,  is  carried 
in  the  left  hand  of  the  hunter  and  the  spear  in  the  right  hand  while  he  watches 
along  the  borders  of  the  leads  or  holes  for  the  appearance  of  the  seals.  When  he 
succeeds  in  striking  one,  he  holds  firmly  to  the  line  until  the  animal  is  exhausted, 
or,  if  necessary,  the  float  board  attached  to  the  line  is  cast  into  the  water,  while  the 
hunter  hurries  to  his  kaiak  and  embarks  in  pursuit. 

In  plate  15  will  be  shown  the  method  of  uniting  the  toggle  head  with  the  loose 
shaft,  this  with  the  fore  shaft,  and  the  fore  shaft  with  the  shaft.  This  last  joint  is 
worthy  of  study,  with  its  curious  tenon  and  shoulder  fitting  into  a  socket  at  the  end 
of  the  shaft.  Especial  attention  is  called  to  the  manner  in  which  the  shaft  is  cut 
away  a  short  distance  on  the  outside  to  allow  the  lashing  of  sinew  to  draw  the  joint 
perfectly  tight.  Attention  is  also  called  to  the  method  of  fitting  the  splicing,  at  which 
the  Eskimo  are  quite  adept.  On  the  surface  of  the  fore  shaft  the  dot  and  ring  orna- 
ments occur.  This  decoration,  wherever  found,  is  an  emblem  of  the  existence  of  steel 
tools.  Very  little  ornament  exists  on  the  old  Eskimo  weapons  found  in  localities 
away  from  contact. 

The  head  of  a  toggle  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  168625,  U.  S.  N.  M)  from  Bristol 
Bay,  collected  by  William  J.  Fisher,  is  shown  in  fig.  88.  The  head  is  of 
bone,  back  sharp  edged,  front  rounded,  and  the  whole  a  flattened  wedge 
shape  at  right  angles  to  the  line  hole.  The  blade,  of  slate,  is  triangu- 
lar, with  convex  sides,  and  glued  into  a  saw  cut  in  the  end  of  the  head. 
This  socket  for  the  loose  shaft  is  square  in  section  and  shallow.  The 
butt  end  of  the  body  is  beveled  as  in  most  harpoons  of  this  class,  but 
in  such  manner  as  to  form  an  offset  on  the  margin  of  the  socket,  and 

1  Nelson,  The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait,  1899,  p.  138. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  13. 


LONG-HANDLED  BARBED  HARPOON,  BRISTOL  BAY,  ALASKA. 

Collected  by  William  J.  Fischer. 

Cat.  No.  90416,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


297 


the  single  barb  is  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the  sharp  back  with  the 

two  edges  of  this  bevel.     The  line  hole  passes  straight 

through  the  body  and  is  flanked  by  shallow  wide  grooves. 

The  loose  shaft  is  a  piece  of  pine  wood  flattened  and 

wedge-shaped  at  its  butt  end  to  fit  into  a  wide  socket  at 

the  end  of  the  foreshaf t,  shouldered  about  2  inches  from 

this  end  and  then  tapering  to  the  point  of  juncture  with 

the  body  of  the  toggle  head.     The  loose  shaft  passes 

into  the  shallow  socket  of  the  head,  where  it  is  hinged. 

A  rawhide  thong  is  passed  through  the  line  hole  and 

tightly  seized  on  either  side  of  the  loose  shaft  3  inches 

below  its  outer  end.     This  forms  a  hinge,  so  that  when 

the  body  of  the  toggle  head  is  drawo  down  the  point  of 

the  loose  shaft  comes  out  of  the  socket,  and  the  parts 

are  held  together  by  the  wrapping  or  seizing.    The  two 

are  further  secured  together  by  a  grommet  of  spruce 

root.     When  in  rest  the  wedge-shaped  butt  end  of  the 

loose  shaft  passes  between  the  two  sides  of  the  rawhide 

line,  and  in  unhinging  from  the  toggle  head  this  part 

also  flies  out  in  an  opposite  direction.    At  the  end  of  the 

rawhide  line  is  a  loop  for  the  attachment  of  a  longer  line. 

This  old  example  is  very  interesting  indeed,  forming 
a  connecting  link  between  the  Eskimo  toggle  head  and 
the  forms  allied  to  it  among  the  Indian  tribes  farther 
south.  Length  of  head  and  blade,  6£  inches;  loose 
shaft,  9i  inches. 

Plates  16  and  17  (Cat.  Nos.  16407,  19382,  and  72412, 
U.S.N.M.)  show  the  forms  of  harpoon  arrows  in  use  on 
the  north  and  the  south  side  of  the  Alaskan  peninsula. 
The  last  mentioned,  No.  6  on  the  plate,  from  Bristol  Bay, 
is  farthest  removed  from  the  arrow  and  nearest  the  har- 
poon with  its  club-shaped  head  and  bilateral  barbs.  The 
line  hole  in  the  barbed  head,  the  line  running  from  head 
to  shaft,  the  socket  for  the  head,  the  joint  between  head 
and  shaft,  are  all  suggestive  of  the  small  seal  harpoon. 
No.  5  on  the  plate,  from  Cook  Inlet,  in  its  head  approaches 
very  near  to  the  simplicity  of  the  Fuegian  barbed  har- 
poon. The  half  feathers  set  on  radially  are  more  Indian 
than  Eskimo.  Fig.  4  OR  Plate  16  is  the  delicate  sea-otter 
arrow  from  Kadiak,  the  paragon  of  aboriginal  pro- 
jectiles. The  specimen  is  fully  illustrated  on  Plate  17. 

This  is  the  most  elaborate  and  ingenious  arrow  known, 
and  all  of  its  parts,  in  every  specimen,  are  most 
delicately  finished.  Such  a  weapon  may  well  have  been 
used  in  hunting  the  most  costly  of  fur-bearing  animals — the  otter. 


Pig.  88. 

TOGGLE    HARPOON 
HEAD. 

Bristol  Bay. 
Collected  by  Wm.  J. 
Fisher.     Cat.   No. 
168625,  U.S.N.M. 


298  REPORT    OF   NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 

The  shaft  is  of  spruce,  gently  tapering  toward  the  neck,  which  is 
large  and  bell  shaped.  Into  the  end  of  the  shaft  is  inserted  a  f oreshaf t 
of  bone,  and  into  the  end  of  this  fits  the  barb.  Feathers,  three,  sym- 
metrically trimmed  and  seized  at  both  ends  with  delicately  twisted 
sinew  thread.  The  barbed  head  is  perforated,  and  through  these  per- 
forations is  attached  a  braided  line  at  least  10  feet  long.  The  other 
end  of  the  shaft  is  secured  to  two  points  on  the  shaft  by  a  martingale. 
When  not  in  use  the  line  is  coiled  neatly  on  the  shaft  and  the  barb  is 
put  in  place  in  the  f  oreshaf  t.  When  the  arrow  is  shot,  the  barb  enters 
the  flesh  of  the  otter,  the  loose  fastening  is  undone,  the  line  unrolled, 
the  f  oreshaf  t  drops  into  the  water;  the  shaft  acts  as  a  drag  and  the 
feathers  as  a  buoy  to  aid  the  hunter  in  tracing  the  animal.  (See  Plate 
LH,  fig.  4.) 

Fig.  1.  Arrow  with  line  unrolled,  showing  relation  of  parts. 

Fig.  2.  The  shaftment.  Attention  is  drawn  to  the  delicate  seizing 
with  sinew  thread,  the  natty  trimming  of  the  feather,  the  most  effi- 
cient nock. 

Fig.  3.  The  lines  and  knots.  Notice  is  given  of  the  elegance  of  the 
braid,  the  efficient  manner  of  "doing  up"  the  line,  the  peculiar  knot 
for  the  martingale. 

Fig.  4.  The  arrow  ready  to  be  shot. 

This  form  of  arrow,  with  its  southern  type  of  sinew-backed  bow,  is 
found  also  on  the  Kuriles,  where  they  were  taken  by  Aleuts,  carried 
over  by  the  Russians  to  hunt  sea  otter. 

The  arrows  numbered  1,  2,  and  3  in  Plate  16  are  from  the  same 
areas  as  the  harpoon  arrows  just  described,  namely,  from  Bristol  Bay 
to  Kadiak.  The  heads  are  essentially  those  of  harpoons,  and  are  set 
into  the  ends  of  the  shafts  in  the  loosest  manner  by  a  slight  conical 
projection  fitting  into  a  socket.  When  the  animal  is  struck  the  head 
withdraws  itself  and  remains  in  the  wound.  A  short  piece  of  string 
between  head  and  shaft  would  convert  these  three  missiles  into  har- 
poon arrows.  To  make  the  likeness  more  complete,  No.  3  has  a 
wooden  cap  over  the  blade. 

Cat.  No.  72518  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  is  a  sea-otter  harpoon 
dart  or  Pishudak  from  Chernoborn  Island,  Cook  Inlet.  The  bladder, 
shaft,  assembling  line,  foreshaft,  martingale,  and  barb  are  similar  to 
the  others  in  all  respects  excepting  the  attachment  of  the  foreshaft  to 
the  shaft.  A  projection  from  the  butt  of  the  ivory  foreshaft  forms  a 
wedge  which  tapers  in  two  directions.  In  fact,  the  foreshaft  is  dove- 
tailed into  the  end  of  the  shaft  and  seized  with  a  sinew  braid  or  sennit, 
which  acts  as  the  assembling  line.  See  Plate  16  for  details  of  Cat. 
No.  19382,  a  harpoon  arrow  from  the  same  locality.  Length  of  shaft, 
45£  inches;  of  foreshaft,  3  inches;  of  point,  5  inches.  Collected  by 
William  J.  Fisher. 

Plate  18,  Cat.   No.  175825  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  is  a  sea- 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  14. 


TOGGLE  HARPOON,  LINE,  AND  FLOAT,  KUSILVAK,  YUKON  RIVER. 
Collected  by  E.  W.  Nelson. 
Cat.  No.  160337,  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  15. 


DETAIL  OF  KUSILVAK  HARPOON  IN  PLATE  14. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HAKPOONS.  299 

otter  dart  from  Unalaska.  The  shaft  is  of  spruce  wood;  it  is  light  and 
delicately  made,  not  quite  cylindrical,  but  becoming  thicker  toward 
the  front.  The  foreshaft  is  of  whale's  bone,  thicker  where  it  joins  the 
shaft,  tapering  smaller  towards  the  front,  and  expanding  at  the  tip 
end;  flattened  a  little  in  cross  section.  A  plug  of  wood  is  inserted  in 
the  socket  at  the  tip  end.  The  point  of  ivory  has  two  barbs  on  one 
side  and  one  on  the  other,  and  an  extension  or  knob  at  the  butt  end, 
around  which  the  line  is  fastened  by  a  marlin  hitch.  The  line  is  of 
sinew  braid  or  sennit  three-ply  in  the  open  parts,  and  six-ply  between 
the  martingale  and  the  point.  The  martingale  is  tied,  one  end  around 
the  foreshaft  and  the  other  a  little  back  of  the  middle  of  the  shaft,  by 
a  clove  hitch. 

The  shaft  has  in  front  a  wedge  with  square  front  and  shouldered  in 
the  rear.  This  wedge  fits  exactly  into  a  slot  in  the  butt  end  of  the 
foreshaft.  A  small  piece  of  birch  bark  is  wrapped  around  the  joint 
for  packing  and  all  the  parts  seized  together  very  neatly  with  the 
finest  sinew  thread. 

In  this  example,  as  in  all  others  of  its  class,  the  shaft  is  painted 
red;  on  some  of  them  the  paint  extends  to  the  foreshaft.  On  a  few 
examples  bands  of  black  paint  are  added  at  the  butt  end.  Length  of 
shaft,  42  inches;  of  foreshaft,  Ti  inches;  of  point,  2i  inches. 

Feathers  on  the  shaftment  or  butt  end  of  the  shaft,  three,  set  on 
radially.  The  nock  of  this  specimen  is  not  unlike  the  foreshaft  in 
form,  only,  in  place  of  the  notch  to  fit  the  bow  string,  there  is  a  flat 
cone  on  the  tip  end  with  a  small  pit  on  the  end  to  catch  into  the  ivory 
hook  on  the  foreshaft.  By  comparing  this  specimen  with  the  harpoon 
arrows  in  Plates  16  and  17  the  student  has  the  best  possible  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  the  close  kinship  between  the  harpoon  and  the  arrow. 
It  is  entirely  a  matter  of  propulsion,  whether  from  the  hand,  from  a 
bow,  or  from  an  atlatl  or  throwing  stick. 

Plate  19  (Cat.  No.  11362,  U.S.N.M.)  represents  a  barbed  harpoon 
with  bladder  and  hand  rest.  From  Kadiak,  and  collected  by  Vincent 
Colyer. 

The  shaft  is  of  pine  wood,  tapering  gradually  from  the  point  to 
the  butt.~  At  the  front  end  the  shaft  is  widened  out  into  a  cylin- 
drical form  for  about  2  inches  and  notched  in  like  a  spool.  There  is 
no  foreshaft  in  this  specimen.  The  socket  for  the  point  is  lenticular 
in  cross  section  and  the  spool-shaped  space  is  filled  with  a  wrapping 
of  fine  sinew  braid.  The  shaft  is  ornamented  with  rings  and  longi- 
tudinal stripes  in  black,  and  the  space  between  the  two  attachments  of 
the  martingale  is  painted  solid  black. 

The  point  is  of  walrus  ivory  or  hard  bone,  delicately  made.  There 
are  two  barbs  on  one  side  near  the  butt,  which  at  a  side  view 
resemble  the  hoof  of  an  animal.  At  the  inner  margin  of  one  of  these, 
three  little  dots  and  lines  are  added  by  way  of  ornament.  On  the 


300  REPORT   OF   NATIONAL   MUSEUM,  1900. 

other  side  is  a  small  barb  or  hook,  which  could  scarcely  be  of  any 
use.  The  tang  is  not  tapered  or  shouldered,  but  is  quite  wide. 
The  line  hole  is  round,  and  into  it  is  set  a  thong  of  rawhide,  doubled 
and  joined  together  at  its  ends  and  likewise  near  the  barb  by  a  lashing 
of  sinew  thread.  Just  above  the  point,  where  the  two  ends  of  the 
thong  are  bound  together  with  sinew  thread,  a  braided  cord  of  sinew 
passes  between  the  two  ends  of  the  thong  and  is  made  fast  by  a  half 
hitch,  a  knot  being  tied  in  the  end  of  the  braid  to  prevent  its  coming 
undone.  The  braid  constitutes  the  line  of  the  harpoon.  A  few  feet 
from  the  point,  where  the  braid  is  attached  to  the  rawhide  leader  of 
the  barbed  head,  it  is  separated  into  two  smaller  braids,  and  these 
become  the  branches  of  the  martingale,  the  ends  of  which  are  attached, 
one  under  the  bridle,  the  other  3  feet  from  the  front  end  of  the  shaft. 
The  hand  rest  is  a  short  piece  of  the  black  horn  of  the  mountain  goat. 
Its  base  fits  on  the  shaft.  Through  a  hole  in  this  horn  a  lashing  of 
sinew  thread  passes  around  the  shaft  several  times.  The  bladder  has 
at  one  end  a  delicate  mouthpiece  of  ivory  set  against  the  shaft,  held  in 
place  by  sinew  thread  passing  through  perforations  in  the  mouthpiece. 
At  the  other  end  the  bladder  is  attached  to  the  shaft  by  means  of  a 
rawhide  thong  tied  a  few  inches  away.  At  five  different  places  on  the 
shaft,  namely,  the  two  points  of  attachment  for  the  martingale,  the 
place  of  the  hand  rest,  and  the  two  points  of  attachment  for  the  blad- 
der, are  bands  of  white  birch  bark,  which  serve  both  for  ornament  and 
as  a  soft  packing  to  hold  the  different  lashings  in  place.  The  manner 
in  which  the  line  is  done  up  on  the  shaft  when  the  harpoon  is  ready 
for  action,  by  means  of  a  loose  knot,  which  is  easily  untied,  is  shown. 
In  every  respect  this  is  a  well-made  and  graceful  implement.  Length 
of  shaft,  8  feet  5  inches;  point,  8  inches. 

The  Samoyed  harpoon,  on  the  testimony  of  Nordenskiold,  consists 
of  a  large  and  strong  iron  head,  very  sharp  on  the  outer  edge  and  pro- 
vided with  a  barb.  The  head  is  loosely  fixed  to  the  shaft,  but  securely 
fastened  to  the  end  of  a  slender  line  10  fathoms  long,  generally  made 
of  walrus  hide.  The  line  is  fastened  at  its  other  end  to  the  boat,  in 
the  fore  part  of  which  it  lies  in  a  carefully  arranged  coil.  There  are 
from  five  to  ten  such  harpoon  lines  in  every  hunting  boat.  When 
the  hunters  see  a  herd  of  walrus,  either  on  a  piece  of  drift  ice  or  in  the 
water,  they  endeavor,  silently  and  against  the  wind,  to  approach  suffi- 
ciently near  to  one  of  the  animals  to  be  able  to  harpoon  it.  If  this 
succeeds,  the  walrus  first  dives  and  then  endeavors  to  swim  under  water 
all  he  can.  But  he  is  fixed  with  the  line  to  the  boat  and  must  draw  it 
along.  His  comrades  swim  toward  the  boat,  curious  to  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  alarm.  A  new  walrus  is  transfixed  with  another  harpoon, 
and  so  it  goes  on  until,  one  after  another,  all  the  harpoons  are  in  use. 
The  boat  is  now  drawn  forward  at  a  whizzing  speed,  although  the  row 
ers  hold  back  with  the  oars;  but  there  is  no  actual  danger  so  long  as 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Masor 


PLATE  16 


BARBED  SEA  OTTER  HARPOON  ARROWS,  ALASKAN  PENINSULA. 

Collected  by  W.  H.  Ball,  James  Curley,  and  Charles  L.  McKay. 

Cat.  Nos.  16407,  193«2,  72412,  U.S.N.M. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900. -Mason. 


PLATE  17. 


DETAIL  OF  SEA  OTTER  HARPOON  ARROW  ALASKAN  PENINSULA. 


ABOEIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS. 


301 


all  the  animals  draw  in  the  same  direction.  If  one  of  them  seeks  to 
take  a  different  course  from  that  of  his  comrades  in  misfortune  his 
line  must  be  cut  off,  otherwise  the  boat  capsizes.  When 
the  walruses  get  exhausted  by  their  exertions  and  by  loss 
of  blood,  the  hunters  begin  to  haul  in  the  lines.  One 
animal  after  another  is  drawn  to  the  stem  of  the  boat, 
and  there  they  commonly  first  get  a  blow  on  the  head 
with  the  flat  of  a  lance,  and  when  they  turn  to  guard 
against  it  a  lance  is  thrust  into  the  heart.1  Whatever 
view  one  takes  regarding  the  blood  kinship  between 
the  peoples  of  northeastern  Asia 
and  those  of  North  America,  or 
between  the  languages  of  the 
two  areas,  the  kinship  of  inven- 
tions is  not  to  be  denied.  How 
far  a  device  may  travel  or  be 
transmitted  without  changing  so 
much  as  one  word  in  any  lan- 
guage or  one  drop  of  blood  is  not 
known.  A  whale  has  been  known 
to  carry  a  harpoon  head  half  way 
around  the  world  and  deliver  it 
safely  to  a  company  of  natives  on 
the  other  side;  and  a  throwing 
stick,  with  which  harpoons  are 
hurled,  drifted  from  Bering 
Strait  to  western  Greenland. 

The  harpoon  has  been  briefly 
traced  throughout  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  It  remains  to  no- 
tice one  or  two  forms  in  which 
the  sailor  and  the  blacksmith 
have  supplanted  almost  entirely 
the  aboriginal  mechanic.  Boas 
figures  an  iron  toggle  head  (1888, 
p.  473)  now  in  the  Berlin  Museum 
of  Ethnology.  It  is  of  iron,  pre- 
serves the  general  shape  of  the  native  barbed 
and  toggle  head,  the  blade,  spurs,  and  line  hole 
being  in  parallel  planes.  The  natives,  according 
to  Boas,  also  file  these  heads  out  of  bits  of  iron. 
The  end  of  the  line  is  bent,  run  through  the  line 
hole,  and  fastened  down  by  a  compound  splice  (fig.  89).  The  fact  has 
been  already  mentioned  that  toggle  heads  of  bone  were  made  wholesale 

1  A.  E.  Nordenskiold,  Voyage  of  the  Vega,  I,  1881,  p.  156. 
NAT   MUS   1900 22 


Fig.  90. 

IROK  TOGGLE  HEAD. 

Amur  River. 
After  von  Schrenk. 


MODERN    HARPOON 
HEAD  OP  IRON. 

Cumberland  Sour»d. 
In  Berlin  Museum  fiir 

Volkerkunde,     after 

Franz  Boas. 


302 


EEPOET    OF    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   1900. 


in  former  times,  and  traded  to  the  Eskimo  for  valuable  furs.     In  the 
National  Museum  there  is  among  the  Nelson  collection  a  small  toggle 

head  of  cast  iron  all  in  one  piece,  fig.  86, 
the  model  of  which  was  a  native  example 
of  ivory  and  iron. 

Fig.  90  is  taken  from  Schrenk,1  and  shows 
the  same  invasion  of  iron  into  native  arts. 
The  object  is  a  combined  barbed  and  toggle 
head,  in  which,  however,  the  barbs  play  the 
chief  part.  The  leader,  of  rawhide,  pre- 
serves its  ancient  bends  and  knots,  and  the 
eyes  peeping  from  the  foreshaft  are  cer- 
tainty survivals  of  the  ancient  regime. 

A  harpoon  (Cat.  No.  19518,  U.S.N.M.) 
from  Cumberland  Sound,  collected  by 
George  Y.  Nickerson,  is  shown  in  fig.  91. 
It  is  an  interesting  mixture  of  ancient  forms 
with  modern.  The  shaft  is  a  well-turned,, 
spindle-shaped  piece  of  oak  wood.  The 
hand  rest  is  an  old  ivory  piece,  turned  ta, 
right  angles,  set 
into  the  shaft  for  a 
short  distance,  and 
bound  on  with  two 
seizings  of  sinew 
braid.  Just  below 
the  hand  rest  is  an 
iron  loop  through 
which  the  line  runs. 
The  foreshaft  is  a 
long  bar  of  iron, 
set  into  the  head 
of  the  shaft  and 
packed,  the  joint 
being  made  fast  by 
means  of  an  iron 
ferrule.  Near  the 
inner  end  of  the 
shaft  is  a  padding 

of  rawhide,  connected  a  few  inches  away  with 
the  end  of  the  shaft  by  a  stiff  rawhide  sprig. 
The  object  of  this  ball  is  not  known,  but  it  may  have  acted  as  a  buffer 
for  catching  the  blow.     The  ice  pick  at  the  butt  end  of  the  shaft  is  also 


Fig.  91. 

SHAFT  OF  TOGGLE  HARPOON. 

Cumberland  Sound. 

Collected  by  Geo.  Y.  Nickerson.    Cat.  No. 

19518,  U.S.N.M. 


Fig.  92. 
BONE  FORESHAFT  OF  HARPOON". 

Bristol  Bay. 

Collected  by  Charles  McKay.    Cat. 
No.  72403,  U.S.N.M. 


1  Plate  42,  fig.  2. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900. — Mason. 


PLATE  18. 


I 


BARBED  HARPOON  DART  FOR  THROWING  STICK,  UNALASKA. 
Collected  by  United  States  Fish  Commission. 
Cat.  No.  175825,  U.S.N.M. 


ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN    HARPOONS.  303 

of  iron.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  more  excellent  illustration 
of  the  fading  out  of  an  ancient  primitive  form  and  the  gradual  intro- 
duction of  new  elements. 

The  bone  foreshaft  (Cat.  No.  72403.  U.S.N.M.)  of  a  large  whaling  or 
walrus  harpoon  from  Bristol  Bay  is  shown  in  fig.  92.  It  is  the  last 
expression  in  the  use  of  modern  tools  for  the  preparation  of  a  very 
ancient  device.  If  this  be  compared  with  the  gash  in  the  end  of  the 
Fuegian  harpoon,  it  will  be  seen  that  great  progress  has  been  made 
at  this  particular  point.  The  upper  part  is  carefully  turned  and  the 
lower  part  cut  with  a  tenon,  so  formed  that  when  placed  at  the  end 
of  the  shaft  the  strain  in  every  direction  is  provided  for.  Collected 
by  Charles  L.  M.  McKay. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  harpoon  is  the  most  complicated  of  the  devices  invented  by 
uncivilized  peoples.  In  a  hemisphere  capable  of  awakening  every 
kind  of  human  wants  and  needs,  furnishing  an  infinite  variety  of  sup- 
plies to  these  from  place  to  place,  providing  one  sort  of  materials  for 
the  harpoon  here  and  quite  another  sort  there,  inhabited  by  native 
tribes  endowed  with  great  range  of  genius,  it  would  be  expected  that 
a  universal  weapon  should  take  on  every  possible  form.  Just  as  the 
whale  ship  of  yesterday,  its  friend  and  contemporary,  has  been  replaced 
by  the  ship  driven  by  steam,  so  the  Eskimo  at  present  kills  the  seal, 
the  walrus,  the  whale,  and  the  arctic  land  mammals  with  a  rifle  and 
explosive  cartridges  instead  of  the  ancient  harpoon.  Should  the 
Eskimo  use  his  great  weapon  at  all,  it  will  be,  as  Murdoch  shows,  to 
retrieve  his  game  on  the  edge  of  the  ice  after  it  is  shot,  and  not  as  a 
killing  device. 

Both  the  ship  and  the  harpoon  served  benevolent  purposes,  since 
they  fostered  and  stimulated  ingenuity  until  the  fullness  of  time  for 
steamships  and  firearms  arrived.  The  harpoon  is  the  climax  of  pierc- 
ing inventions,  which  include  daggers,  lances,  spears,  javelins,  and 
arrows  of  all  kinds — held  in  the  hand,  hurled  from  the  hand,  either 
unaided  or  with  the  help  of  hand  rest,  amentum  or  atlatl,  or  shot  from 
a  bow.  As  was  noted  in  the  preceding  drawings  and  descriptions,  the 
harpoon  had  no  limit  in  its  application,  being  equally  efficient  on  the 
land,  in  the  air,  in  the  water,  or  through  the  ice,  at  long  range  or  short 
range,  with  short  or  long  shaft,  in  some  examples  this  part  a  hundred 
feet  in  length.  The  simplest  forms  have  three  rude  parts;  the  most 
highly  developed  a  score  or  more.  Besides  its  own  complexity,  it  has 
in  the  arctic  area  dominated  the  kaiak  in  its  upper  part,  as  well  as  the 
dress  of  the  man,  and  called  forth  any  number  of  accessories  for 
decoying,  finding,  watching,  taking  out  of  the  water,  and  carrying 
home. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  every  part  of  this  complex  apparatus 


30-4  BEPOKT    OF   NATIONAL    MUSEUM,  1900. 

must  be  most  efficacious  for  its  region  and  quarry,  and  not  bulk}r,  one 
is  not  astonished  to  find  a  great  variety  of  patterns  in  the  structure  and 
in  the  knots  on  the  lines.  The  Eskimo  themselves  were  not  all  agreed 
on  these  points.  Hence,  for  example,  Murdoch  discusses  the  question 
whether  the  blade  of  the  toggle  head  should  be  in  the  plane  of  the  line 
hole  or  across  it.  Again,  the  length  of  the  shaft  and  other  character- 
istics were,  in  certain  limits,  fitted  to  the  hunter.  One  has  only  to 
look  through  Nelson's  plates  to  be  convinced  that  there  was  a  range 
of  individual  choice  in  many  parts.  While,  therefore,  it  is  correct  to 
say  that  all  harpoons  of  the  different  types  resemble  one  another  in 
the  same  area,  it  is  equally  proper  to  add  that  no  two  harpoons  are 
alike. 

Besides  the  lesson  in  the  history  of  invention  which  this  study 
affords,  other  questions  arise.  What  help  do  these  technical  speci- 
mens offer  to  the  ethnologist  and  the  archaeologist  in  deciding  race, 
language,  migrations,  and  antiquity?  Can  it  be  said  of  a  harpoon,  or 
some  of  its  parts,  found  without  label  in  a  collection,  that  it  was  made 
by  this  or  that  tribe,  or  that  it  came  from  a  certain  area?  Or,  if  in  a 
shell  heap  or  village  site  or  grave  certain  harpoon  parts  are  found, 
will  a  comparison  with  the  drawings  or  descriptions  in  this  paper  tell 
who  the  makers  of  these  relics  might  have  been  1  In  the  first  place, 
if  the  technical  products  of  peoples  now  living  are  to  throw  light  upon 
ethnic  and  archseologic  investigations,  these  products  must  be  collected 
in  large  numbers  and  the  identity  of  those  who  made  and  used  them 
must  be  settled  beyond  controversy.  With  reference  to  precious 
material  gathered  after  the  discovery  and  scattered  in  private  and 
public  collections,  it  is  safe  to  label  them  as  to  tribe  and  locality  by  the 
help  of  specimens  lately  acquired  by  scientific  collectors.  In  this  way 
the  mouths  of  these  dumb  witnesses  will  be  opened.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  however,  that  unity  of  race  is  a  matter  of  blood,  of  kinship; 
that  unity  of  speech  is  a  matter  of  lip  and  ear,  and  requires  some  close 
contact;  while  unity  of  industry  is  a  matter  of  eye  and  hand  and  may 
be  easily  communicated  from  afar. 

On  the  question,  how  much  of  all  this  invention  is  of  native  growth 
and  what  proportion  is  exotic,  wide  differences  of  opinion  still  exist. 

To  begin  with,  all  iron  and  all  work  of  iron  are  in  a  sense  new, 
added,  accultural;  not  out  and  out,  but  in  varying  proportion  and  for 
the  most  part  merely  substitutional.  The  iron  blade  takes  the  place 
of  a  stone  blade  only  as  a  better  stone.  It  is  hammered  and  ground 
similarly.  The  simple  tools  alter  shapes  but  little;  they  merely  cut, 
saw,  grind,  and  pierce  better  than  the  old.  But  a  more  vigorous  sub- 
stitution took  place  in  the  barter  of  devices  between  savage  tribes 
widely  separated,  but  made  acquainted,  first  in  their  own  commerce, 
and  afterwards  by  the  fishing  and  fur  trading  interests  of  the  white 
settlers. 


Report  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  1900.— Mason. 


PLATE  19. 


1 


BARBED  HARPOON  WITH  FLOAT,  KADIAK,  ALASKA. 

Collected  by  Vincent  Collyer. 

Cat.  No.  11362.  U.S.N.M. 


PB~00073 OS-SB 
539-0*  , 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  lost  DATE  stamped  below. 


6   1970 
JUN    5  RECTJ 


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STORED  AT  NRLF 


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3  2106  00075  0585 


